Article 1 - Definitions

‘fit and proper requirements’ means the requirements that the members of the management body of a significant supervised entity must fulfil at all times in accordance with Article 91 of Directive 2013/36/EU and any other applicable law;

‘fit and proper decision’ means an ECB decision (i) stating whether an individual fulfils the fit and proper requirements, or (ii) authorising a member of a management body to hold one additional non-executive directorship pursuant to Article 91(6) of Directive 2013/36/EU;

‘applicable law’ means relevant Union law within the meaning of Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013, and any national law which is relevant for the assessment of the fit and proper requirements;

‘participating Member State’ means a participating Member State as defined in point (1) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013;

‘significant supervised entity’ means a significant supervised entity as defined in point (16) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 468/2014 (ECB/2014/17);

‘supervised entity’ means a supervised entity as defined in point (20) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 468/2014 (ECB/2014/17);

‘significant supervised group’ means a significant supervised group as defined in point (22) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 468/2014 (ECB/2014/17);

‘delegated decision’ means a decision adopted on the basis of a delegation of power by the Governing Council pursuant to Decision (EU) 2017/933 (ECB/2016/40);

‘management body’ means a management body as defined in point (7) of Article 3(1) of Directive 2013/36/EU, subject to Article 3(2) thereof;

‘member’ means any one or more of the following: (i) a proposed or appointed member of a management body; (ii) where applicable, a proposed or appointed key function holder as defined in accordance with applicable law; (iii) a proposed or appointed branch manager as defined in accordance with applicable law; and (iv) a person to whom the management body delegates, partially or fully, the executive function, whether or not that person has been proposed or appointed as a formal member of the institution’s governing body or bodies under national law;

‘heads of work units’ means the heads of work units of the ECB to whom the power to jointly adopt fit and proper decisions is delegated;

‘national competent authority’ means a national competent authority as defined in point (2) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013;

‘non-objection procedure’ means the procedure set out in Article 26(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 and further specified in Article 13g of Decision ECB/2004/2;

‘guide to fit and proper assessments’ means a document with this title including future versions thereof and including any other document containing guiding principles for fit and proper assessments that may in future replace or complement it, adopted and amended from time to time in accordance with the non-objection procedure and published on the ECB’s website;

‘credit institution’ means a credit institution as defined in point (1) of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ¹;

‘negative decision’ means a decision that does not or does not fully grant the authorisation as requested by the significant supervised entity or the member. A decision with ancillary provisions such as conditions or obligations shall be considered as a negative decision unless such ancillary provisions (a) ensure that the supervised entity fulfils the requirements of relevant Union law referred to in Article 4 and have been agreed in writing or (b) merely restate one or more of the existing requirements that the institution has to comply with pursuant to provisions referred to in Article 4 or require information on the fulfilment of one or more of such requirements;

‘ECB Guide on options and discretions available in Union law’ means a document with this title including future versions thereof and including any other document containing guiding principles on options and discretions available in Union law that may in future replace or complement it, adopted and amended from time to time in accordance with the non-objection procedure and published on the ECB’s website;

‘sensitivity’ means a characteristic or factor that may have a negative impact on the ECB’s reputation and/or on the effective and consistent functioning of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, including but not limited to any of the following: (a) the relevant supervised entity has previously been, or is currently, subject to severe supervisory measures such as early intervention measures; (b) the draft decision once adopted will set a new precedent that could bind the ECB in the future; (c) the draft decision once adopted may attract negative media or public attention; or (d) a national competent authority that has entered into close cooperation with the ECB communicates its disagreement with the proposed draft decision to the ECB.