On the 4th of September the ECB published the final list of the 120 significant credit institutions, whose direct supervision it will assume on 4 November. The ECB will directly supervise credit institutions, financial holding companies or mixed financial holding companies that are deemed significant at the highest level of consolidation within participating Member States. The significant credit institutions account for almost 85 per cent of total banking assets in the euro area.
In the case of Malta the ECB has identified the Bank of Valletta plc, Deutsche Bank (Malta) Ltd, and HSBC Bank Malta plc, as being significant, on the technical grounds that each had total assets above 20% of GDP.
In their statement the ECB explain that the significance assessment has been based on banks’ year-end 2013 figures, the total value of their assets, the importance for the economy of the country in which they are located or the EU as a whole, the scale of their cross-border activities and whether they have requested or received public financial assistance from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) or the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
The ECB adds that the significance of banks will be assessed regarding their status on a regular basis and at least once a year after the publication of their full year results. In the case of mergers, ad hoc assessments will take place. A change of status from less significant to significant can occur at any time. A change of status from significant to less significant requires that significance criteria have not been met for three consecutive years.
The ECB has also published a list of less significant institutions, as required by the Framework Regulation. These banks will continue to be supervised by national competent authorities. However, the ECB can decide at any time to exercise direct supervision in order to ensure consistent application of high supervisory standards. In the case of Malta there are a further 16 banks named as being “less significant institutions” in accordance with Article 6(4) of the SSM Regulation. These banks are: AgriBank PLC, APS Bank Ltd, Banif Bank (Malta) plc, Commbank Europe Ltd, ECCM Bank plc, FCM Bank Ltd, Ferratum Bank (Malta) Limited, FIMBank plc, IIG Bank (Malta) Ltd, Izola Bank plc, Lombard Bank Malta plc, Mediterranean Bank plc, Nemea Bank Ltd, Novum Bank Ltd, Pilatus Bank Ltd., Saadgroup Bank Europe Ltd.