EBA欧洲银行-EBA-GL-2015-11_EN_GL-on-creditworthiness_6页_197kb

EBA Guidelines on Creditworthiness Assessment

Status of Guidelines

These guidelines are issued under Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 and outline appropriate supervisory practices for the European System of Financial Supervision. Competent authorities and financial institutions are required to make every effort to comply with these guidelines, and they should be incorporated into their practices, including legal frameworks and supervisory processes.

Reporting Obligations

• Competent authorities must notify the EBA by 19.10.2015 whether they comply or intend to comply with the guidelines, or provide reasons for non-compliance.
• Notifications should be submitted using the form available on the EBA website to compliance@eba.europa.eu with the reference 'EBA/GL/2015/11'.
• Notifications must be made by persons with appropriate authority on behalf of their competent authorities.
• Any change in compliance status must also be reported to the EBA.
• Notifications will be published on the EBA website, in line with Article 16(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.

Subject Matter and Scope

These guidelines provide further detail on the requirements from Articles 18 and 20(1) of Directive 2014/17/EU for assessing the creditworthiness of consumers in relation to credit agreements under Article 3 of the same directive.

Addressees

The guidelines are addressed to:

• Competent authorities (as defined in Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010) who are also competent authorities under point (22) of Article 4 of Directive 2014/17/EU. They apply to the extent that they are designated for ensuring the application and enforcement of the relevant provisions of the directive.
• Financial institutions (as defined in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010) that are creditors as defined in point (2) of Article 4 of Directive 2014/17/EU.

Information Requirements

• If a Member State has designated more than one authority under Article 5 of Directive 2014/17/EU and one of them is not an EBA authority, the EBA authority must:
  • Inform the other designated authority of these guidelines and their date of application.
  • Request that authority in writing to consider applying the guidelines.
  • Request that authority to inform either the EBA or the EBA authority within two months of the notification whether it applies or intends to apply the guidelines.
  • Forward the information received under the above to the EBA if applicable.

Definitions

• Unless otherwise specified, terms defined in Directive 2014/17/EU apply to these guidelines.
• A balloon payment is defined as the remaining amount of principal that becomes due and payable on the final instalment payment for a loan that is not fully amortised.

Outsourcing

• In cases where the creditor's activities are outsourced to third parties or carried out by another entity, the creditor must ensure compliance with the CEBS Guidelines on outsourcing, particularly CEBS Guideline 2, which emphasizes that senior management of the outsourcing institution bears ultimate responsibility for managing the risks associated with outsourcing.

Date of Application

• These guidelines apply from 21 March 2016.
• The information requirements under paragraph 7 apply from [publication date in the official languages + 1 day].

Requirements for Creditworthiness Assessment

Guideline 1: Verification of the Consumer's Income

• Creditors must make reasonable enquiries and take reasonable steps to verify the consumer's income capacity, income history, and any variability over time.
• For self-employed or seasonal income consumers, creditors should verify profit capacity and third-party documentation of such income.

Guideline 2: Documentation and Retention of Information

• Creditors must maintain complete documentation of the information leading to mortgage approval.
• This documentation must be retained for at least the duration of the credit agreement.
• A record of the steps taken to verify income must be readily available for competent authorities, including the income history of each applicant.

Guideline 3: Identification and Prevention of Misrepresented Information

• Loan documentation should be designed to identify and prevent misrepresentation of information by the consumer, the creditor, or a credit intermediary.

Guideline 4: Assessment of the Consumer's Ability to Meet Obligations

• Creditors should consider relevant factors that may influence the consumer's ability to meet obligations, such as:
  • Other servicing obligations and their interest rates
  • Outstanding principal on such debt
  • Evidence of missed payments
  • Directly relevant taxes and insurance
• Creditors must establish sound processes for assessing the consumer's ability to meet obligations and maintain up-to-date records of these procedures.
• These processes should be reviewed regularly.
• If the loan term extends past the consumer's expected retirement age, the creditor should assess the adequacy of the consumer's likely income and ability to meet obligations in retirement.
• Creditors should not base the assessment on an expected significant increase in income unless there is sufficient documentation to support this.

Guideline 5: Allowance for Committed and Non-Discretionary Expenditures

• Creditors should make reasonable allowances for committed and other non-discretionary expenditures.
• These include the consumer's actual obligations and living expenses.
• Appropriate substantiation and consideration of these expenses should be made.

Guideline 6: Allowance for Potential Future Negative Scenarios

• Creditors should make prudent allowances for potential negative scenarios, such as:
  • Reduced income in retirement
  • Increased benchmark interest rates for variable rate mortgages
  • Negative amortisation
  • Balloon payments
  • Deferred payments of principal or interest