On 15 May 2012, the Council of the EU announced that the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (“ECOFIN”) has reached agreement on the CRD IV proposals. CRD IV is a package of EU reforms on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms intending address a number of issues arising from the financial crisis. The existing Capital Requirements Directive will be replaced with the CRD IV Directive and the Capital Requirements Regulation. The amendments agreed by ECOFIN were published on 17 May 2012 and are available here.
CRD IV
European Commission Capital Requirements Directive Proposal
On July 20, the European Commission issued proposal CRD IV, which would replace the Capital Requirements Directives issued in 2006. The proposal would: (i) require European banks to hold more capital of higher quality, applying the international bank capital standards agreed to under Basel III; (ii) set up a new corporate governance framework; and (iii) compile all applicable legislation in a Single Rule Book for banking regulation. European Commission Release.