The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has added a systemic risk buffer to the list of capital buffers that should be generated by banks to increase their capability to withstand risks during periods of financial and economic instability, the press service of the regulator has said.
The changes were approved by NBU Board Resolution No. 131 dated December 3, 2021 on approving amendments to the instruction on the procedure for regulating banks in Ukraine, and entered into force on December 7, 2021.
To control the generation of capital buffers by banks in the approved amount, the term “combined capital buffer” has been introduced, defined as the aggregate amount of capital buffers set for a bank.
According to the updated instructions, banks independently generate a combined capital buffer. The regulator sets the size of the systemic risk buffer in the range of 0-3% of the bank’s total risk. The decision on the start date and the procedure for the generation of the systemic risk buffer by banks, its size or increase, the schedule for the gradual achievement of the approved size (if necessary) is made by the NBU Board, and shall contain information on the grounds and purposes of introducing/increasing the size of this buffer, a list of banks that are obliged to generate it and/or the criteria on the basis of which such banks are determined.
The press service recalled that in 2020, the NBU postponed the generation of conservation buffers and systemic importance buffers by banks due to the introduction of quarantine and restrictive measures related to the spread of the COVID-19 infection.
The National Bank will notify banks about the resumption of the formation of these buffers in the first quarter of 2022. The NBU will inform the date of the start of the formation of capital buffers and their values in advance, which will allow banks to take measures to comply with the requirements, the NBU said.
