Article 4 · ECB/2021/1

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Article 4Exemptions from minimum reserve requirements#

1.Institutions shall be exempt from the minimum reserve requirements in Article 3 where either of the following apply:

(a)an authorisation referred to in Article 1(a)(i) is withdrawn or renounced; or

(b)an institution is subject to winding-up proceedings pursuant to Directive 2001/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^note.

2.The ECB may grant exemptions from the minimum reserve requirements in Article 3, upon request by the relevant NCB, where any of the following apply:

(a)an institution is subject to a reorganisation measure pursuant to Directive 2001/24/EC;

(b)an institution is subject to a freezing order imposed by the Union or by a Member State, or is subject to measures imposed by the Union pursuant to Article 75 of the Treaty, which restricts the institution’s ability to use its funds;

(c)that institution’s access to the Eurosystem’s open market operations or standing facilities has been suspended or excluded by the ECB and NCBs (Eurosystem) pursuant to Guideline (EU) 2015/510 of the European Central Bank (ECB/2014/60)^note;

(d)it is not appropriate to require minimum reserves from that institution.

For the purposes of point (c) of the first subparagraph, where an institution’s access to the Eurosystem’s open market operations or standing facilities is restored by the Governing Council of the ECB pursuant to Article 158 of Guideline (EU) 2015/510 (ECB/2014/60), the exemption shall no longer apply from the start of the next maintenance period.

3.For the purposes of granting exemptions in accordance with paragraph 2(d), the relevant NCBs and the ECB shall take all of the following into account:

(a)whether that institution is authorised to pursue special-purpose functions only;

(b)whether that institution is prohibited from exercising active banking functions in competition with other credit institutions;

(c)whether that institution is under a legal obligation to have all its deposits earmarked for purposes relating to regional and/or international development assistance.

For the purposes of point (a), an institution is authorised to pursue special-purpose functions only where it exercises specific public administration tasks or the institution is forbidden by law or statute to undertake the business of credit institutions.

4.The exemptions referred to in this Article shall apply from the start of the maintenance period in which the relevant event occurs.

Defined terms · 14

Show every defined term

branch
means ‘branch’ as defined in Article 4(1)(17) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;
credit institution
means ‘credit institution’ as defined in Article 4(1)(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;
division
means an operation whereby one credit institution (the institution being divided), on being dissolved without going into liquidation, transfers all its assets and liabilities to more than one institution (the recipient institutions), which may be newly established credit institutions.
end-of-day balance
means the reserve holdings at the time when the finalisation of payment activities has taken place and entries relating to access to the standing facilities of the Eurosystem have been made;
euro area Member State
means a Member State whose currency is the euro;
maintenance period
means the period over which compliance with minimum reserve requirements is assessed;
merger
means an operation whereby one or more credit institutions (the acquired institutions), on being dissolved without going into liquidation, transfer all their assets and liabilities to another credit institution (the acquiring institution), which may be a newly established credit institution;
minimum reserve requirements
means all the requirements that institutions are required to comply with pursuant to this Regulation in relation to minimum reserves as regards the calculation, notification, acknowledgement, and maintenance of minimum reserves, and reporting and verification;
minimum reserves
means the amount of funds that an institution is required to hold as reserves in its reserve accounts with the relevant national central bank;
relevant NCB
means the national central bank (NCB) of the euro area Member State in which the institution is resident;
reserve accounts
means the accounts in which an institution holds its reserves with the relevant NCB;
reserve base
means the sum of the eligible liabilities used for calculating the minimum reserves of an institution;
reserve ratio
means the percentage applied to items of the reserve base for calculating an institution’s minimum reserves;
resident
means any natural or legal person residing in any of the euro area Member States within the meaning of Article 1(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98;