Recital 1

(1)The requirement in Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 that competent authorities assess the compliance of an institution with the requirements to use the Internal Ratings Based (IRB) Approach relates to all of the requirements for the use of the IRB Approach, irrespective of their degree of materiality, and concerns compliance with the requirements at all times. As a result, that requirement does not only relate to the assessment of the initial application of an institution for the permission to use the rating systems for the purpose of the calculation of own funds requirements, but also to: the assessment of any additional applications of an institution for the permission to use the rating systems implemented according to the institution’s approved plan of sequential implementation of the IRB Approach; the assessment of the application for material changes to the internal approaches that the institution has received permission to use in accordance with Article 143(3) of that Regulation and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 529/2014 ² ; changes to the IRB Approach that require notification in accordance with Article 143(4) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and Delegated Regulation (EU) No 529/2014; the ongoing review of the IRB Approach that the institution has received permission to use in accordance with Article 101(1) of Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ³ ; the assessment of applications for permission to return to the use of less sophisticated approaches in accordance with Article 149 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013. Competent authorities should apply the same criteria to all of these particular aspects of the assessment of compliance with the requirements to use the IRB Approach. The rules that set out that assessment methodology should therefore apply to all of those cases, in order to ensure harmonisation of assessment methodologies by competent authorities and avoid the risk of regulatory arbitrage.