This year’s decisions on resolution plans and MREL

Press release 19 December 2022

The Swedish National Debt Office has made this year’s decisions on resolution plans and the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). The Debt Office has concluded that the majority of banks are making good progress in meeting the MREL that will ultimately apply as of 2024, although certain banks need to increase the pace in order to improve their resolvability within other areas.

The Debt Office’s assessment is that, as in previous years, nine Swedish banks are systemically important and would therefore need to be managed through resolution in the event of a crisis.

The purpose of MREL for the systemically important banks is to cover losses and restore own funds in a crisis. The requirement is determined on the basis of the banks’ capital requirements and consists of a risk-weighted and a non-risk-weighted requirement. The requirements are being phased in and are to be met in full by 1 January 2024.

In 2023, the Debt Office will conduct a previously planned in-depth review of how the Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) should be managed in a crisis and for this reason has decided not to raise the MREL for SEK during the phase-in period. The review will be done to ensure that the resolution plan and requirements are suited to SEK’s particular operations and mandate, and it will consider the opinion submitted by the institution concerning its management in resolution. The review could result in a new decision regarding the MREL and resolution plan.

Table for all MREL and the Swedish systemically important banks 
(updated July 2023)

Banks are to comply with the new EBA guidelines

In this year’s resolution plans, the Debt Office has followed up on the banks’ efforts to comply with the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) guidelines for improving resolvability for institutions and resolution authorities (EBA/GL/2022/01). The guidelines impose, among other things, requirements on the banks to ensure continuity of their critical functions during resolution and develop valuation capabilities to support an effective resolution procedure.

The guidelines will take effect on 1 January 2024. From that point on, they will be a key tool in the Debt Office’s assessment of the banks’ resolvability. This means that insufficient compliance with the guidelines can be grounds for the Debt Office to determine if there are substantive impediments to resolution. A number of banks are behind in their work to achieve compliance with the guidelines. These banks must therefore pick up the pace in order to be compliant with the guidelines when they enter into force.

Most banks are not deemed systemically important

The majority of the banks for which the Debt Office conducts resolution planning are not deemed systemically important. The Debt Office is therefore planning for these to be wound up through bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings if they were to fail. For firms in this category, the Debt Office has made decisions on so-called simplified resolution plans and on MREL that does not exceed the capital requirements (investments firms are also included in this category).

Deposit insurance always applies

Regardless of how a bank in crisis is managed, deposit insurance applies. This means that a depositor’s money is protected up to the amount of SEK 1,050,000 per depositor and institution.

Contact

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