1.A credit institution may not incur an exposure to a client or group of connected clients the value of which exceeds 25 % of its own funds.
2.Where that client or group of connected clients is the parent undertaking or subsidiary of the credit institution and/or one or more subsidiaries of that parent undertaking, the percentage laid down in paragraph 1 shall be reduced to 20 %. Member States may, however, exempt the exposures incurred to such clients from the 20 % limit if they provide for specific monitoring of such exposures by other measures or procedures. They shall inform the Commission and the Banking Advisory Committee of the content of such measures or procedures.
3.A credit institution may not incur large exposures which in total exceed 800 % of its own funds.
4.Member States may impose limits more stringent than those laid down in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3.
5.A credit institution shall at all times comply with the limits laid down in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 in respect of its exposures. If in an exceptional case exposures exceed those limits, that fact must be reported without delay to the competent authorities which may, where the circumstances warrant it, allow the credit institution a limited period of time in which to comply with the limits.
6.Member States may fully or partially exempt from the application of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 exposures incurred by a credit institution to its parent undertaking, to other subsidiaries of that parent undertaking or to its own subsidiaries, in so far as those undertakings are covered by the supervision on a consolidated basis to which the credit institution itself is subject, in accordance with Directive 92/30/EEC or with equivalent standards in force in a third country.
7.Member States may fully or partially exempt the following exposures from the application of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3: (a) asset items constituting claims on Zone A central governments or central banks; (b) asset items constituting claims on the European Communities; (c) asset items constituting claims carrying the explicit guarantees of Zone A central governments or central banks or of the European Communities; (d) other exposures attributable to, or guaranteed by, Zone A central governments or central banks or the European Communities; (e) asset items constituting claims on and other exposures to Zone B central governments or central banks which are denominated and, where applicable, funded in the national currencies of the borrowers; (f) asset items and other exposures secured, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, by collateral in the form of Zone A central government or central bank securities, or securities issued by the European Communities or by Member State regional or local authorities for which Article 7 of Directive 89/647/EEC lays down a zero weighting for solvency purposes; (g) asset items and other exposures secured, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, by collateral in the form of cash deposits placed with the lending institution or with a credit institution which is the parent undertaking or a subsidiary of the lending institution; (h) asset items and other exposures secured, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, by collateral in the form of certificates of deposit issued by the lending institution or by a credit institution which is the parent undertaking or a subsidiary of the lending institution and lodged with either of them; (i) asset items constituting claims on and other exposures to credit institutions, with a maturity of one year or less, but not constituting such institutions' own funds as defined in Directive 89/299/EEC; (j) asset items constituting claims on and other exposures to those institutions which are not credit institutions but which fulfil the conditions referred to in Article 8 (2) of Directive 89/647/EEC, with a maturity of one year or less, and secured in accordance with the same paragraph; (k) bills of trade and other similar bills, with a maturity of one year or less, bearing the signatures of other credit institutions; (l) debt securities as defined in Article 22 (4) of Directive 85/611/EEC (12); (m) pending subsequent coordination, holdings in the insurance companies referred to in Article 12 (3) of Directive 89/646/EEC up to 40 % of the own funds of the credit institution acquiring such a holding; (n) asset items constituting claims on regional or central credit institutions with which the lending institution is associated in a network in accordance with legal or statutory provisions and which are responsible, under those provisions, for cash-clearing operations within the network; (o) exposures secured, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, by collateral in the form of securities other than those referred to in (f) provided that those securities are not issued by the credit institution itself, its parent company or one of their subsidiaries, or by the client or group of connected clients in question. The securities used as collateral must be valued at market price, have a value that exceeds the exposures guaranteed and be either traded on a stock exchange or effectively negotiable and regularly quoted on a market operated under the auspices of recognized professional operators and allowing, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities of the Member State of origin of the credit institution, for the establishment of an objective price such that the excess value of the securities may be verified at any time. The excess value required shall be 100 %; it shall, however, be 150 % in the case of shares and 50 % in the case of debt securities issued by credit institutions, Member State regional or local authorities other than those referred to in Article 7 of Directive 89/647/EEC, and in the case of debt securities issued by the European Investment Bank and multilateral development banks as defined in Article 2
of Directive 89/647/EEC. Securities used as collateral may not constitute credit institutions' own funds as defined in Directive 89/229/EEC;
(p) loans secured, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, by mortgages on residential property and leasing transactions under which the lessor retains full ownership of the residential property leased for as long as the lessee has not exercised his option to purchase, in both cases up to 50 % of the value of the residential property concerned. The value of the property shall be calculated, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, on the basis of strict valuation standards laid down by law, regulation or administrative provisions. Valuation shall be carried out at least once a year. For the purposes of this subparagraph residential property shall mean a residence to be occupied or let by the borrower;
(q) 50 % of the medium/low-risk off-balance-sheet items referred to in Annex I to Directive 89/647/EEC;
(r) subject to the competent authorities' agreement, guarantees other than loan guarantees which have a legal or regulatory basis and are given for their members by mutual guarantee schemes possessing the status of credit institutions as defined in Article 1
(a), subject to a weighting of 20 % of their amount.
Member States shall inform the Commission of the use they make of this option in order to ensure that it does not result in distortions of competition. Within five years of the adoption of this Directive, the Commission shall submit to the Council a report accompanied, if necessary, by appropriate proposals;
(s) the low-risk off-balance-sheet items referred to in Annex I to Directive 89/647/EEC, to the extent that an agreement has been concluded with the client or group of connected clients under which the exposure may be incurred only if it has been ascertained that it will not cause the limits applicable under paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 to be exceeded.
8.For the purposes of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, Member States may apply a weighting of 20 % to asset items constituting claims on Member State regional and local authorities and to other exposures to or guaranteed by such authorities; subject to the conditions laid down in Article 7 of Directive 89/647/EEC, however, Member States may reduce that rate to 0 %.
9.For the purposes of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, Member States may apply a weighting of 20 % to asset items constituting claims on and other exposures to credit institutions with a maturity of more than one but not more than three years and a weighting of 50 % to asset items constituting claims on credit institutions with a maturity of more than three years, provided that the latter are represented by debt instruments that were issued by a credit institution and that those debt instruments are, in the opinion of the competent authorities, effectively negotiable on a market made up of professional operators and are subject to daily quotation on that market, or the issue of which was authorized by the competent authorities of the Member State of origin of the issuing credit institution. In no case may any of these items constitute own funds within the meaning of Directive 89/299/EEC.
10.By way of derogation from paragraphs 7 (i) and 9, Member States may apply a weighting of 20 % to asset items constituting claims on and other exposures to credit institutions, regardless of their maturity.
11.Where an exposure to a client is guaranteed by a third party, or by collateral in the form of securities issued by a third party under the conditions laid down in paragraph 7 (o), Member States may: - treat the exposure as having been incurred to the third party rather than to the client, if the exposure is directly and unconditionally guaranteed by that third party, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, - treat the exposure as having been incurred to the third party rather than to the client, if the exposure defined in paragraph 7 (o) is guaranteed by collateral under the conditions there laid down.
12.Within five years of the date referred to in Article 8 (1), the Council shall, on the basis of a report from the Commission, examine the treatment of interbank exposures provided for in paragraphs 7 (i), 9 and 10. The Council shall decide on any changes to be made on a proposal from the Commission.