The EBA has published its final report on the definition of ancillary services undertakings under the Capital Requirements Regulation. This affects, among other things, which entities are included in prudential consolidation and, consequently, which entities are subject to rules on regulatory banking contagion and capital adequacy.
On 9 January 2026, the European Banking Authority (“EBA”) published guidelines on the definition of ancillary services undertakings (the “EBA Guidelines”) under Article 4(1)(18) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (the “Capital Requirements Regulation” or “CRR”).
Under the CRR, certain undertakings qualify as so-called ancillary services undertakings. These include entities whose principal activity consists of:
The Guidelines provide definitions of the italicised terms above.
The practical effect of the EBA Guidelines is to clarify which undertakings qualify as ancillary services undertakings and, consequently, as financial institutions under Article 4(1)(26), financial sector entities under Article 4(1)(27), and potentially financial holding companies under Article 4(1)(20), in each case under the CRR.
As ancillary services undertakings form part of an institution’s consolidated situation under Article 18 of the CRR, this clarification will affect the application of the rules governing consolidated supervision. This includes both the provisions referred to in Part One, Title II, Chapter 2 of the CRR, as well as regulatory requirements applicable at consolidated level, such as remuneration rules and outsourcing requirements (often referred to as “banking contagion” (Sw. banksmitta).
The Guidelines have been adopted by the EBA but have not yet been translated into Swedish. They will enter into force two months after the official translations have been published.
The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) must also confirm whether it intends to comply with the Guidelines in full or only in part, for example where statutory requirements may limit their application.
Institutions should assess whether entities within their group, or entities in which they hold an ownership interest, qualify as ancillary services undertakings and therefore as financial institutions to be included in consolidation, and thus subject to the applicable regulatory requirements.
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