Decision regarding reciprocation of macroprudential measures in two EU countries

In Estonia, the designated macroprudential authority has introduced a requirement for all credit institutions authorised in Estonia to hold a systemic risk buffer of 1 per cent of risk exposure in Estonia. FI has decided to reciprocate the Estonian measure with some exceptions. This currently does not entail an increase in the total capital requirement for the Swedish credit institutions with exposures in Estonia. The four major Swedish banks are already subject to a systemic risk buffer requirement of 3 percentage points – which also applies to Estonian exposures – and the other Swedish banks only have negligible exposures.

In Belgium, the designated macroprudential authority has introduced a 5-percentage-point risk-weight add-on applied to Belgian mortgage loan exposures. The requirement shall be applied to credit institutions using the internal-ratings based approach (IRB credit institutions). FI decided not to reciprocate the Belgian measure because the Swedish IRB credit institutions' mortgage loan exposures in Belgium are negligible.

The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) has recommended that relevant authorities in EU Member States reciprocate both countries' macroprudential measures, with some possibility for exceptions (ESRB/2016/4). FI has notified ESRB, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) of the decisions.