Prudential Regulation Authority Rulebook

1.

Level 2B assets shall only include assets falling under one or more of the following categories and meeting in each case the eligibility criteria laid down herein:

1. (a) exposures in the form of asset-backed securities meeting the requirements laid down in Article 13;
2. (b) corporate debt securities which meet all of the following requirements:
1. (i) they have received a credit assessment by a nominated ECAI which is at least credit quality step 3 in accordance with Article 122 of CRR or the equivalent credit quality step in the event of a short term credit assessment;
2. (ii) the securities issue size is at least GBP 220 million (or the equivalent in domestic currency);
3. (iii) the maximum time to maturity of the securities at the time of issuance is 10 years;
3. (c) shares, provided that they meet all of the following requirements:
1. (i) they form part of the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 (FTSE 100) in the United Kingdom or a major stock index of a third country composed of leading companies in the relevant jurisdiction;
2. (ii) they are denominated in pounds Sterling or, where denominated in a different currency, they count as level 2B only up to the amount to cover stressed net liquidity outflows in that currency or in the jurisdiction where the liquidity risk is taken; and
3. (iii) they have a proven record as a reliable source of liquidity at all times, including during stress periods. This requirement shall be deemed met where the level of decline in the share's stock price or increase in its haircut during a 30 day calendar day market stress period did not exceed 40% or 40 percentage points, respectively;
4. (d) restricted-use committed liquidity facilities that may be provided by the Bank of England or the central bank of a third country, provided that the requirements laid down in Article 14 are met;
5. (e) exposures in the form of high quality covered bonds which shall comply with all of the following requirements:
1. (i) they are CRR covered bonds or meet the requirements to be eligible for the treatment set out in Article 129(4) or (5) of the CRR;
2. (ii) the credit institution investing in the covered bonds meets the transparency requirement laid down in Article 129(7) of the CRR;
3. (iii) the issuer of the covered bonds makes the information referred to in Article 129(7)(a) of the CRR available to investors on at least a quarterly basis;
4. (iv) their issue size is at least GBP 220 million (or the equivalent amount in domestic currency);
5. (v) the covered bonds are collateralised exclusively by the assets referred to in points (a) and (d)(i) of Article 129(1) of the CRR;
6. (vi) the pool of underlying assets consists exclusively of exposures which qualify for a 35% or lower risk weight under Article 125 of the CRR for credit risk;
7. (vii) the cover pool meets at all times an asset coverage requirement of at least 10% in excess of the amount required to meet the claims attaching to the covered bonds;
8. (viii) the issuing credit institution needs to publicly disclose on a monthly basis that the cover pool meets the 10% asset coverage requirement;
6. (f) for credit institutions which in accordance with their statutes of incorporation are unable for reasons of religious observance from holding interest bearing assets, non-interest bearing assets constituting a claim on or guaranteed by central banks or by the central government or the central bank of a third country or by a regional government, local authority or public sector entity in a third country, provided that those assets have a credit assessment by a nominated ECAI of at least credit quality step 5 in accordance with Article 114 of CRR, or the equivalent credit-quality step in the event of a short-term credit assessment.

2.

The market value of each of the level 2B assets shall be subject to the following minimum haircuts:

1. (a) the applicable haircut set out in Article 13(14) for level 2B securitisations;
2. (b) a 50% haircut for corporate debt securities referred to in paragraph (1)(b);
3. (c) a 50% haircut for shares referred to in paragraph (1)(c);
4. (d) a 30% haircut for covered bond programmes or issues referred to in paragraph (1)(e);
5. (e) a 50% haircut for non-interest bearing assets referred to in paragraph (1)(f).

3.

For credit institutions which in accordance with their statutes of incorporation are unable for reasons of religious observance to hold interest bearing assets, the credit institution may apply for permission from the competent authority to derogate from points (ii) and (iii) of paragraph 1(b) of this Article where there is evidence of insufficient availability of non-interest bearing assets meeting these requirements and the non-interest bearing assets in question are adequately liquid in private markets.

[Note: This is a permission under section 144G of FSMA to which Part 8 of the Capital Requirements Regulations applies]

[Note: This rule corresponds to Article 12 of Regulation (EU) No 2015/61 as it applied immediately before revocation by the Treasury]