The Minister of Finance is holding a consultation until 18 October about a draft bill authorising DNB to assess banks and investment firms on their relevance to the stability of the financial system (system relevance).
Banks and investment firms considered system relevant by DNB will have to maintain extra structural capital buffers on top of the minimum capital requirements to enable them to absorb losses. DNB will set the amount of the extra capital buffer.
Negotiations are currently taking place at the European level about a new directive on capital requirements for banks and investment firms (CRD IV), which also incorporates the concept of capital buffers on top of the solvency requirements. Even though the capital buffers will only be relevant to a few Dutch institutions, those institutions may have to maintain considerably more capital than before.
The Minister of Finance has decided not to wait for the introduction of a bill implementing CRD IV, but to go ahead with the above bill on assessment of system relevance, thus providing clarity to institutions on this point.
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