Decision of the National Bank of Slovakia No. 1/2026 of 12 March 2026 amending and supplementing Decision No. 2/2015 on the implementation of the Eurosystem monetary policy framework in the Slovak Republic

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The National Bank of Slovakia, pursuant to Section 18 of Act No. 566/1992 Coll. on the National Bank of Slovakia, as amended by subsequent regulations, has decided:

Article I
Decision No. 2/2015 of the National Bank of Slovakia of 28 April 2015 on the implementation of the Eurosystem monetary policy framework in the Slovak Republic, as amended by Decisions of the NBS No. 21/2015, Decision of the NBS No. 1/2016, Decision of the NBS No. 24/2016, Decision of the NBS No. 7/2017, Decision of the NBS No. 2/2018, Decision of the NBS No. 8/2019, Decision of the NBS No. 6/2020, Decision of the NBS No. 8/2020, Decision of the NBS No. 12/2020, Decision of the NBS No. 14/2020, Decision of the NBS No. 17/2020, Decision of the NBS No. 21/2020, Decision of the NBS No. 5/2021, Decision of the NBS No. 9/2022, Decision of the NBS No. 7/2023, Decision of the NBS No. 3/2024 and Decision of the NBS No. 2/2025, is amended and supplemented as follows:

1. In Section 2, letter aa) is deleted.
   Letters ab) to bs) currently existing are designated as letters aa) to br).

2. In Section 2, a new letter ab) is inserted after letter aa), reading:
   “ab) residual value risk, which arises in connection with payment from underlying ABS assets in these cases:

3. payment from underlying ABS assets is systematically dependent on the sale or refinancing of the relevant goods, without further claim against the debtor to cover potential loss from the difference between the proceeds from the sale of goods and planned payments from underlying ABS assets, or potential loss from these planned payments arising from the failure of full or partial refinancing of goods,

4. the debtor has the option to deliver goods for the purpose of fully settling its payment obligations, but has no obligation to cover the loss from the difference between the proceeds from the sale of goods and planned payments from underlying ABS assets, or potential loss from these planned payments arising from the failure of full or partial refinancing of goods,

5. in cases under point 1 or 2, regardless of the existence of a repurchase right, guarantee or other obligation of a third party or another party to the transaction to make the planned payment or cover potential loss from the difference between the proceeds from the sale of goods and planned payments from underlying ABS assets, or potential loss from these planned payments arising from the failure of full or partial refinancing of goods,”.
   Letters ab) to br) currently existing are designated as letters ac) to bs).

6. In Section 2, letter af) reads:
   “af) non-marketable asset, a time deposit and a credit claim,”.

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4. In Section 2, letter ah) reads:
   “ah) domestic use of collateral, a situation where a Eurosystem counterparty with its seat in a euro area state uses as collateral a marketable asset issued and recorded in the same euro area state or a credit claim, for which the credit contract is governed by the law of the same euro area state,”.

5. In Section 2, letter av), the fourth point is deleted.

6. In Section 2, letter be) is deleted.
   Letters bf) to bs) currently existing are designated as letters be) to br).

7. In Section 2, letters bi) to bk) are deleted.
   Letters bl) to br) currently existing are designated as letters bi) to bo).

8. In Section 2, letter bi) reads:
   “bi) database of loan data, a database of securitisation data according to a special regulation, 13c) which is registered by the European Securities and Markets Authority (hereinafter referred to as “ESMA”) according to a special regulation,13d)”.
   Footnotes to references 13c and 13d read:
   “13c) Art. 2 point 23 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 laying down a general framework for securitisation and creating a special framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation, and amending Directives 2009/65/EC, 2009/138/EC and 2011/61/EU and Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009 and (EU) No 648/2012 (OJ EU L 347, 28.12.2017) in the current version. 13d) Art. 10 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 in the current version.”.

9. In Section 2, a new letter bj) is inserted after letter bi), reading:
   “bj) crisis resolution authority, the Single Resolution Board13e) or the Single Resolution Board,13ea)”.
   Footnotes to references 13e and 13ea read:
   “13e) Section 3(1) of Act No. 371/2014 Coll. on the resolution of crisis situations in the financial market and amending certain laws. 13ea) Art. 42 of Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 in the current version.”.
   Letters bj) to bo) currently existing are designated as letters bk) to bp).

10. Section 2 is supplemented by letters bq) to bs), reading:
    “bq) risk mitigation measure, a measure consisting of

11. setting a limit on the volume of liquidity provided after the cancellation of the restriction on the NBS counterparty’s access to Eurosystem monetary policy operations with a standard maturity of at most one week, even if the indicative calendar of these operations specifies a longer maturity,

12. restricting the mobilisation of collateral in the form of mobilised ABS assets for own use according to Section 46(2) and covered bonds for own use according to Section 46(6), or other assets that the Eurosystem considers illiquid, or

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3. requirement to meet additional own funds requirements according to a special regulation,13j) in addition to meeting own funds requirements according to a special regulation,13k)
   br) climate factor, an adjustment that may be applied to the value assigned to acceptable marketable assets issued by certain non-financial corporations and their respective groups of corporate issuers, which are mobilised as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations, with the aim of mitigating the potential financial impact of uncertainties related to climate transition, bs) group of corporate issuers, a group consisting of a parent company and all its direct and indirect subsidiaries that operate as a single economic entity and represent the reporting entity for the purpose of submitting consolidated financial statements.”. Footnotes to references 13j and 13k read:
   “13j) Section 50(1) letter m) of Act No. 483/2001 Coll. as amended by subsequent regulations. 13k) Art. 92 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 in the current version.”.

4. In Section 5, paragraphs 3 to 10 read:
   “(3) The NBS is entitled to demand that an NBS counterparty pay a monetary penalty for each failure to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2; if this failure to comply concerns multiple assets used as collateral, each of these assets is a separate failure to comply. The monetary penalty under the first sentence consists of a) a fixed part in the amount of 500 euros for each failure to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2, which the NBS notifies to the NBS counterparty, regardless of the number of assets used as collateral, b) a variable part concerning each asset used as collateral, calculated in the manner specified in Annex No. 1. (4) The NBS shall reduce the value of the monetary penalty under paragraph 3 by 50% if a) the NBS counterparty rectifies the failure to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2 letter c) and notifies it to the NBS before the NBS, the ECB or the external auditor of the NBS counterparty, b) the NBS counterparty notifies the NBS of a failure to comply that was not detected by the NBS or the ECB and concerns assets that have already been demobilised; the NBS shall not reduce the monetary penalty for assets in respect of which a verification procedure is ongoing, which the NBS, the ECB or the external auditor have notified to the NBS counterparty. (5) The penalty surcharge applied in the calculation of the variable part of the monetary penalty for failure to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2 letters a) to c) is 2.5 percentage points. The penalty surcharge applied in the calculation of the variable part of the monetary penalty for failure to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2 letters d) and e) is 5 percentage points for the first failure to comply and increases by 2.5 percentage points for each subsequent failure to comply during a 12-month period, which begins to run from the first failure to comply. (6) If an NBS counterparty fails to comply with the obligations under paragraph 2 letter a) or letter b), concerning the same type of failure to comply a) the NBS may, on behalf of the Eurosystem, upon the third and each subsequent failure to comply during a 12-month period, suspend in the manner specified in Annex No. 2 the NBS counterparty’s access to the same type of operations on the free market, as the one in respect of which the NBS counterparty failed to comply, if a monetary penalty was applied in respect of each failure to comply and each decision on the application of a monetary penalty was notified to the NBS counterparty,

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b) the 12-month period under letter a) runs from the notification of the first failure to comply; if the NBS counterparty notifies the NBS of a failure to comply itself according to paragraph 4, then the first such notification by the NBS counterparty, which occurs during the relevant 12-month period, is not considered a failure to comply under this paragraph. (7) If an NBS counterparty fails to comply with the obligations under paragraph 2 letter c), concerning the same type of failure to comply a) the NBS may, on behalf of the Eurosystem, upon the third and each subsequent failure to comply during a 12-month period, suspend the NBS counterparty’s access to the first monetary policy refinancing operation within the maintenance period of required minimum reserves following the notification to the NBS counterparty that its access to the free market operation has been suspended, if a monetary penalty was applied in respect of each failure to comply and each decision on the application of a monetary penalty was notified to the NBS counterparty, b) the 12-month period under letter a) runs from the notification of the first failure to comply; if the NBS counterparty notifies the NBS of a failure to comply itself according to paragraph 4, then the first such notification by the NBS counterparty, which occurs during the relevant 12-month period, is not considered a failure to comply under this paragraph. (8) In exceptional cases, the NBS may, on behalf of the Eurosystem, suspend the NBS counterparty’s access to all future monetary policy operations for a period of three months due to failure to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2; in suspending access, the NBS takes into account the seriousness of the failure to comply, in particular the amount involved, the frequency of the failure to comply and the duration of the failure to comply. (9) The NBS, on behalf of the Eurosystem, is entitled to apply non-monetary penalties under paragraph 8 to a branch of a credit institution, which is an NBS counterparty, if non-monetary penalties have been applied to the credit institution with its seat in another euro area state that established it. (10) If an NBS counterparty fails to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2 even partially, the NBS is entitled to demand payment of a monetary penalty for the period of delay from the NBS counterparty; delay also includes the period during which the NBS counterparty may rectify the failure to comply with the obligation under paragraph 2 based on the NBS notification. The method of calculating the monetary penalty is set out in Annex No. 1, taking into account the volume of cash or assets that the NBS counterparty failed to pay or deliver and the number of days the NBS counterparty was in delay.”.

12. In Section 5a, paragraph 2 reads:
    “(2) For an NBS counterparty subject to supervision referred to in Section 3(1) letter c) point 1, but which does not meet the own funds requirements according to a special regulation17a) on an individual or consolidated basis according to banking supervision requirements, and for an NBS counterparty subject to supervision at a comparable level according to Section 3(1) letter c) point 3, but which does not meet requirements comparable to the own funds requirements according to a special regulation17a) on an individual or consolidated basis, the Eurosystem automatically restricts access to Eurosystem monetary policy operations for prudential reasons. The restriction corresponds to the level of access to Eurosystem monetary policy operations at the time of notification of non-compliance with the own funds requirement to the Eurosystem; this restriction does not affect any further extraordinary measure that the Eurosystem may take. Unless the Governing Council of the ECB decides otherwise upon the request of the relevant NCB, the NBS counterparty’s access to Eurosystem monetary policy operations is automatically suspended for prudential reasons if a) there is no possibility of timely restoration of compliance with the own funds requirements by the NBS counterparty, b) compliance with the own funds requirements is not restored through appropriate and timely measures no later than 20 weeks from the reference date for data collection, at which non-compliance was identified, or c) non-compliance with the own funds requirements was identified outside the data collection framework and compliance with the own funds requirements was not restored within eight weeks from the date when the relevant supervisory authority confirmed that the NBS counterparty no longer meets the minimum own funds requirements, but no later than 20 weeks after the end of the relevant quarter.”.

13. In Section 5a, a new paragraph 5 is inserted after paragraph 4, reading:
    “(5) In the event of delay in providing information on capital indicators or the leverage ratio indicator according to a special regulation17a) for a specific reference period, which occurred in events beyond the control of the NBS counterparty, the relevant reporting deadlines for the end of the quarter in connection with the specific quarter are extended as follows:
    a) if it concerns an NBS counterparty meeting the acceptability criteria according to Section 3(1) letter c) points 1 and 2, by eight weeks, b) if it concerns an NBS counterparty according to Section 3(1) letter c) point 3, by two weeks.”.
    Paragraphs 5 to 13 currently existing are designated as paragraphs 6 to 14.

14. In Section 5a, new paragraphs 7 to 9 are inserted after paragraph 6, reading:
    “(7) The Eurosystem cancels the restriction on access to Eurosystem monetary policy operations with a standard maturity of at most one week for an NBS counterparty under paragraph 6, even if the indicative calendar of these operations specifies a longer maturity; the cancellation of this restriction takes effect on the working day following the adoption of a crisis resolution programme or crisis resolution measure, if these conditions are met:
    a) the crisis resolution authority has informed the Eurosystem of the upcoming crisis resolution no later than 48 hours before the working day on which the cancellation of access restriction is expected, b) the crisis resolution authority has confirmed in writing

15. the adoption of a crisis resolution programme or crisis resolution measure according to a special regulation,19aa)

16. that the crisis resolution programme or crisis resolution measure has entered into force in cases according to a special regulation,19ab)
    c) the crisis resolution programme or crisis resolution measure does not stipulate the application of the bridge institution instrument according to a special regulation,19ac) in respect of the NBS counterparty with restricted access, d) the relevant supervisory authority has confirmed in writing that after the adoption of the crisis resolution programme or crisis resolution measure, the NBS counterparty under paragraph 6 meets the own funds requirements according to a special regulation17) on an individual or consolidated basis, taking into account the adoption and entry into force of the crisis resolution programme or crisis resolution measure. (8) In the event of delay by the relevant supervisory authority or crisis resolution authority in fulfilling the conditions under paragraph 7 letters a) to d), the cancellation of the restriction may take effect later than under paragraph 7. The Eurosystem may cancel the restriction in full if the relevant authority provides information according to Section 3a(1) and the NBS counterparty is financially sound according to Section 3(1) letter b). If the relevant authority does not provide information according to Section 3a(1) within 12 weeks from the adoption of the crisis resolution programme or crisis resolution measure, the Eurosystem restricts the NBS counterparty’s access to Eurosystem monetary policy operations for prudential reasons. (9) Without prejudice to the application of risk control measures under Section 45(5), the Eurosystem may, after cancelling the restriction under paragraphs 7 and 8, apply any of the risk mitigation measures under Section 2 letter bq) in relation to the NBS counterparty under paragraph 6.”. Footnotes to references 19aa to 19ac read:
    “19aa) Art. 18(1) of Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 in the current version.
    Section 34 and Sections 48 to 97 of Act No. 371/2014 Coll. as amended by subsequent regulations.
    19ab) Art. 18(7) of Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 in the current version.
    19ac) Art. 25 of Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 in the current version.
    Section 55 of Act No. 371/2014 Coll. as amended by subsequent regulations.”.
    Paragraphs 7 to 14 currently existing are designated as paragraphs 10 to 17.

17. In Section 5a, paragraphs 10 and 11, the words “paragraph 5” are replaced by the words “paragraph 6”.

18. In Section 5a, a new paragraph 14 is inserted after paragraph 13, reading:
    “(14) Extraordinary measures under paragraph 1, which the Eurosystem may apply for prudential reasons, may be based on any information that raises serious concerns about the financial soundness of the NBS counterparty.”.
    Paragraphs 14 to 17 currently existing are designated as paragraphs 15 to 18.

19. In Section 5a, paragraph 16 letter a), the words “and 5” are replaced by the words “and 6”.

20. In Section 5b, paragraph 2 letter e), the words “letter bh)” are replaced by the words “letter bg)”.

21. In Section 15, paragraph 1 is supplemented by letter v), reading:
    “v) tender conducted with full allocation, if applied.”.

22. In Section 29, paragraph 3, the words “according to Section 5a paragraphs 1 to 11” are replaced by the words “according to Section 5a paragraphs 1 to 16”.

23. In Section 33, paragraphs 4, 5, 8, 14 and 15 read:
    “(4) Marketable assets are acceptable if, until maturity, they have principal a) with a fixed value without any conditions, or b) without any conditions, which is fixed only to one reference rate of the domestic inflation index for debt securities denominated in euros, British pounds, Japanese yen or US dollars; fixed linkage means compensation for inflation recorded in the reference rate of the domestic inflation index on an individual basis, taking into account the lowest or highest value of the reference rate. (5) Debt securities under paragraph 4 letter b), whose coupon structure is defined according to paragraph 8 letter c), must have a coupon linked to the same reference rate of the domestic inflation index as their principal. (8) Marketable assets are acceptable if, until maturity, they have coupons with a) a fixed interest rate, zero interest rate or multi-tier interest rate with a predetermined coupon payment date and predetermined coupon values, or b) a floating interest rate, which is not linked to the reference rate of the inflation index and has the following structure:
    coupon interest rate = (reference interest rate x l) + x, with f ≤ interest rate ≤ c, where

24. in the case of debt securities denominated in euros, the reference interest rate at a given time is only one of these rates:
    1.1. the euro money market interest rate, the use of which is permitted in the EU according to a special regulation,23) such as the short-term euro rate €STR including compounded or average daily €STR, EURIBOR and similar indices, for the first or last coupon, the reference interest rate may be a linear interpolation between two periods to maturity of the same money market interest rate, for example, linear interpolation between two different periods to maturity of EURIBOR,
    1.2. swap interest rates with fixed maturity, such as CMS, EIISDA, EUSA indices,
    1.3. the yield of one of the euro area government bonds or an index of several euro area government bonds with a maturity of one year or less,

25. in the case of debt securities denominated in British pounds, Japanese yen or US dollars, the reference interest rate at a given time is only one of these rates:
    2.1. one money market interest rate, the use of which is permitted in the EU according to a special regulation,23) in the currency in which the debt securities are denominated,
    2.2. any other acceptable benchmark interest rate in a foreign currency, based on a decision of the Governing Council of the ECB,

26. if the numbers f (lowest value (floor)), c (highest value (ceiling)), l (leveraging/deleveraging factor) and x (coupon margin) are available, these are values that are predetermined at issuance or may change over time only according to a trajectory predetermined at issuance, with l being greater than zero throughout the life of the asset,
    c) a floating interest rate, which is linked to the reference rate of the domestic inflation index, for the respective currency, namely euro, British pounds, Japanese yen or US dollars, provided that

27. the fixed component of the coupon, which is not adjusted for inflation and other margins, if defined, which is applied by adding or subtracting, is fixed or may change over time only in a predetermined manner at issuance,

28. inflation compensation is fixed only to one reference rate of the domestic inflation index, with possible exceptions regarding the application of the lowest value or highest value, if available, and cases where inflation compensation is calculated using the maximum level of the price index achieved for the last coupon payment dates in the event of recorded deflation,

29. the lowest values and highest values are available and are numbers that are either predetermined at issuance or may change over time only in a predetermined manner at issuance,

30. such floating rate coupons do not contain any other complex component,”,

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d) a multi-tiered interest rate or coupons with a floating interest rate linked to the SPT, provided that the achievement of the SPT by the issuer or any undertaking belonging to the same group of bond issuers linked to the SPT is verified by an independent third party based on the bond issuance conditions, and the increase in the coupon rate or payment related to this change has not been cancelled or invalidated.

(14) Marketable assets denominated in euros must be issued in the EEA, and marketable assets denominated in British pounds, Japanese yen, or US dollars must be issued in the eurozone, provided that these marketable assets are issued through a central securities depository that operates an acceptable securities settlement system23a) or a securities settlement system with an acceptable link23b) to an acceptable securities settlement system.

(15) International marketable assets issued a) through an international securities depository in the form of a global debt security and represented by a physical certificate or an electronic copy of the physical global debt security must meet these criteria:

1. international marketable assets denominated to a global holder must be issued in the form of a special type of debt security (New Global Notes - NGN) and must be recorded by a common administrator, namely an international securities depository or a securities depository that is an operator of an acceptable SSS or an SSS with an acceptable link to an acceptable SSS; this requirement does not apply to international marketable assets denominated to a global holder that were issued in the form of classic global debt securities before 1 January 2007 and to replaceable additional issuances issued with the same ISIN code regardless of the date of the additional issuance,

2. international marketable assets issued in the form of a special debt security (Global Registered Form – GRF) must be issued under a new administrative structure valid for international debt securities for acceptability; by way of exception, this provision does not apply to international marketable assets issued in the form of a special debt security (Global Registered Form – GRF) before 1 October 2010,
   b) in the form of individual debt securities (Individual Note Form – INF) represented by an individual physical certificate, which were not issued in the aforementioned form before 1 October 2010, are not acceptable, c) through international securities depositories in fully dematerialized form, the Eurosystem has the right to verify whether such assets are not associated with significant risks that could affect the rights of the Eurosystem as a holder of collateral and whether such assets are issued in accordance with the legal order governing them, regardless of the technology used for their issuance.”.

3. In Section 33 paragraph 18, the following sentence is added at the end:
   “
   For debt securities denominated in British pounds, Japanese yen, and US dollars, the issuer must have its registered office in the EEA.”.

4. In Section 33 paragraph 20, the text reads:
   “
   (20) Marketable assets must be issued in euros, British pounds, Japanese yen, US dollars, or in the original national currencies of eurozone states with conversion to euros.”.

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24. In Section 34 paragraphs 1 and 2, the text reads:
    “
    (1) The NBS accepts as collateral in credit operations ABS assets with a rating corresponding to at least the second level of credit quality of the harmonized rating scale of the Eurosystem, which meet the acceptability criteria according to Section 33 paragraphs 1 to 3 and 5 to 29 and simultaneously meet the additional acceptability criteria according to paragraphs 2 to 19. Assets of the ABS type with a rating corresponding to the third level of credit quality of the harmonized rating scale of the Eurosystem are also acceptable for Eurosystem credit operations, provided that in addition to the acceptability criteria according to Section 33 paragraphs 1 to 3 and 5 to 29 and the additional acceptability criteria according to paragraphs 2 to 19, they also meet the additional specific acceptability criteria according to Section 34a.

(2) For an ABS asset to be acceptable as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations, all underlying ABS assets must be homogeneous, it must be possible to report them according to one of the types of data reporting templates for underlying loan assets of ABS assets listed in the implementing technical standards approved by the European Commission according to a special regulation24ba) and the underlying ABS assets must be one of these types of assets:
a) mortgage loans on residential real estate, b) loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, c) loans for the purchase of motor vehicles, d) consumer loans, e) leasing receivables, f) credit card receivables.”.
The footnote to reference 24ba reads:
“
24ba) Art. 7(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 in its current version.”.

25. In Section 34 paragraph 7, the following sentence is added at the end:
    “
    The issuer of ABS assets must not be exposed to residual value risk.”.

26. In Section 34 paragraph 17, the text reads:
    “
    (17) For an ABS asset to be or remain acceptable as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations, comprehensive and standardized loan data, which are its underlying assets, must be available, provided by the relevant entities to the securitization data repository in accordance with these conditions:
    a) loan data must be provided for each individual transaction through the relevant data template listed in the implementing technical standards approved by the European Commission according to a special regulation;24ba) the provided relevant data template depends on the type of underlying ABS assets and is one of the types of assets according to paragraph 2, b) loan data must be provided at least with a quarterly frequency, no later than one month after the interest payment date of the relevant ABS asset; for the purposes of the data templates according to letter a), the data cutoff date for aggregated underlying ABS assets must be the date by which the performance status of the underlying ABS assets was recorded for the relevant mandatory data submission, and the relevant data submission date must not be older than two months after this data cutoff date for aggregated underlying ABS assets, c) to ensure compliance with the conditions of this paragraph, automatic consistency and accuracy checks of loan data submission must be performed for all new and updated loan data for each transaction by the relevant loan data database.”.

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27. Section 34a is inserted after Section 34, which including the heading reads:
    “
    Section 34a
    Acceptability criteria for ABS assets with credit quality at least at the third level of credit quality of the harmonized rating scale of the Eurosystem

(1) For the purposes of this section, it is understood that a) a structured loan is a loan in whose structure there are also subordinated loan claims, b) a syndicated loan is a loan provided by a group of lenders forming a syndicate of lenders, c) a high-leverage loan is a loan provided to a company that already has a significant level of indebtedness, with the aim of obtaining a share in the company, which is also a borrower from the loan, for example financing the acquisition or takeover of a company, d) provisions on the administration of an ABS asset are provisions on a substitute administrator of an ABS asset or provisions on an intermediary for a substitute administrator of an ABS asset, if the documentation of ABS assets does not contain provisions on a substitute administrator of an ABS asset, e) provisions on an intermediary for a substitute administrator of an ABS asset are provisions in the documentation of ABS assets that require the appointment of an intermediary for a substitute administrator of an ABS asset, who is authorized within 60 days from the occurrence of the relevant event to find a suitable substitute administrator of an ABS asset with the aim of ensuring timely repayment and administration of the ABS asset, and simultaneously stipulate that there must not be close links at the same time between any of the entities, namely the administrator of an ABS asset, the intermediary for a substitute administrator of an ABS asset, and the bank that maintains the accounts of the issuer of an ABS asset, f) provisions on a substitute administrator of an ABS asset are provisions in the documentation of ABS assets that determine the reasons leading to the necessity of replacing the administrator of an ABS asset, which are based on the rating assessment of the administrator of an ABS asset, the failure to fulfill obligations by the administrator of an ABS asset, or other assessments based on industry standards for the replacement of the administrator of an ABS asset, and simultaneously stipulate that this substitute administrator of an ABS asset must not have close links with the administrator of an ABS asset.

(2) The NBS is authorized to accept as collateral in credit operations ABS assets meeting the acceptability criteria according to Section 34, whose credit quality assessment is at the third level of the credit quality scale of the harmonized rating scale of the Eurosystem, and which must simultaneously meet these requirements:
a) the pool of underlying ABS assets must not, at the time of issuance of the ABS asset or upon its subsequent addition, for example through the exchange or replacement of underlying ABS assets, contain a loan, for which the delay in repayment of interest or principal exceeded 90 days and the borrower is in default according to a special regulation,25a) or a loan, for which there are reasonable doubts that interest or principal will be repaid in full, b) the pool of underlying ABS assets must not contain loans that are or at any time were structured, syndicated, or high-leverage loans, c) documentation regarding the issuance of ABS assets must contain provisions on the administration of an ABS asset.

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(3) A contracting party to the NBS may not submit as collateral in credit operations such an ABS asset meeting the conditions according to paragraph 2, for which the contracting party to the NBS or another entity with which the contracting party to the NBS has close links, provides the ABS asset with protection against interest rate risk.”. The footnote to reference 25a reads:
“
25a) Art. 178 of Regulation No. 575/2013 in its current version.”.

28. In Section 35 paragraph 1, the words “and according to Section 35a” and letters b) and d) are deleted.
    The current letter c) is designated as letter b).

29. In Section 35, paragraphs 15 to 22 are deleted.

30. Section 35 is supplemented by paragraph 15, which reads:
    “
    (15) Loan claims classified as problem exposures according to a special regulation25b) are not acceptable, even if they are secured based on acceptable guarantee according to Section 44.”.
    The footnote to reference 25b reads:
    “
    25b) Art. 47a(3) of Regulation No. 575/2013.”.

31. Section 35a, Section 62, Section 63a, Section 65, and Annexes No. 12a and 23 are deleted.
    The footnotes to references 41 and 41ab are deleted.

32. In Section 36 paragraph 3, letter c) is deleted.
    The current letter d) is designated as letter c).

33. In Section 36 paragraph 8, the text reads:
    “
    (8) The value of collateral used by the contracting party to the NBS in the form of uncovered bank bonds issued by a credit institution or another entity with which the credit institution has close links according to paragraph 2, must not exceed 2.5% of the total value of collateral provided by this contracting party to the NBS, after applying corresponding valuation haircuts, and if relevant, also a climate factor; this limitation does not apply to uncovered bank bonds, the guarantor of which is a public sector institution with the right to levy taxes and the collateral meets the criteria according to Section 42, or if the value of uncovered bank bonds after applying the valuation haircut, and if relevant, also a climate factor, is lower than 50 million euros, or if these uncovered bank bonds are issued by an agency, a multilateral development bank, or an international organization. In the event of a merger or consolidation of two or more issuers of uncovered bank bonds, or in the event of the creation of close links between them and the contracting party to the NBS, the 2.5% limit according to the first sentence must not be exceeded until three months have elapsed from the merger or consolidation or the creation of close links.”.

34. In Section 38 paragraph 2, the text reads:
    “
    (2) When assessing the acceptability of assets used as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations in the area of credit quality assessment, the Eurosystem takes into account information from one of these four sources of credit quality assessment:
    a) external credit rating institutions (hereinafter referred to as “ECAI”), b) internal rating systems of contracting parties (hereinafter referred to as “IRB”), c) full internal credit quality rating systems of NCBs (hereinafter referred to as “F-ICAS”), d) statistical internal credit quality rating systems of NCBs (hereinafter referred to as “S-ICAS”).”.

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35. In Section 38 paragraph 3, the words “ECAI and ICAS” are replaced with the words “ECAI, F-ICAS, and S-ICAS”.

36. In Section 38 paragraph 7, the text reads:
    “
    (7) The source of credit quality assessment of the Eurosystem of the F-ICAS and S-ICAS types are systems developed and used in NCBs. Each NCB may decide to use its own F-ICAS or S-ICAS for the purposes of ECAF. The decision of the NCB to use its own F-ICAS or S-ICAS is subject to an acceptance process by the Eurosystem.”.

37. In Section 38, a new paragraph 8 is inserted after paragraph 7, which reads:
    “
    (8) In credit quality assessment systems of the F-ICAS and S-ICAS types, credit quality assessment may be performed in advance or upon request of the contracting party to the Eurosystem when submitting an asset as collateral to an NCB using F-ICAS or S-ICAS; based on this request, the relevant NCB informs the contracting party to the Eurosystem about the result of the credit quality assessment of the issuer, borrower, or guarantor, or about the duration of the assessment. If the type of entity whose credit quality is to be assessed is not evaluated by the relevant F-ICAS or S-ICAS system, or if the NCB does not have the necessary information to perform the assessment, it immediately informs the contracting party to the Eurosystem about this fact, whereby the relevant issuer, borrower, or guarantor is considered unacceptable, and the contracting party to the Eurosystem has the right to use another source of credit quality assessment according to Section 43. If an asset used as collateral becomes unacceptable due to a deterioration in the credit quality of the issuer, borrower, or guarantor, its use must be terminated immediately. All information for the purposes of credit assessment is provided voluntarily by non-financial NCB institutions.”. The current paragraphs 8 to 11 are designated as paragraphs 9 to 12.

38. In Section 38 paragraph 9 letter h), the words “Section 38” are replaced with the words “Section 39”.

39. In Section 38 paragraph 10, paragraph 12 letter a), and letter c) fourth point, the words “paragraph 8” are replaced with the words “paragraph 9”.

40. In Section 41 paragraph 1 letter a), the word “3.” is replaced with the word “third”.

41. In Section 41 paragraph 1 letter b), the word “2.” is replaced with the word “third”.

42. In Section 43 paragraph 3, the first sentence reads:
    “
    Without prejudice to Section 35 paragraphs 11 and 15, the contracting party to the NBS must closely monitor the loan claim and immediately, no later than the following working day, inform the NBS about each identified credit event, in particular the failure to fulfill obligations related to the loan claim, including delays in repayment of principal or interest payments by the borrower of the loan claim.”.

43. In Section 43 paragraphs 5 and 6, and Annex No. 6, the word “ICAS” is replaced with the word “F-ICAS”.

44. In Section 43 paragraph 9, the following sentence is added at the end:
    “
    The NBS may allow the use of S-ICAS as a third system or source of credit quality assessment upon request of the contracting party to the NBS without requiring the contracting party to the NBS to submit a statement supported by adequate justification.”.

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45. In Section 43, paragraphs 14 and 15 are deleted.

46. In Section 45 paragraph 3 letter b), the words “and if relevant, also a climate factor,” are added after the word “haircut”.

47. In Section 45, paragraph 3 is supplemented by letter e), which reads:
    “ e) from 15 June 2026, the climate factor according to Annex No. 28.”.

48. In Section 45 paragraph 4, the text reads:
    “
    (4) Valuation haircuts or climate factors do not apply to liquidity-pulling Eurosystem monetary policy operations.”.

49. Section 46 is supplemented by paragraph 10, which reads:
    “
    (10) Additional valuation haircuts of a) 16% on assets denominated in British pounds and US dollars, b) 26% on assets denominated in Japanese yen, apply to marketable assets denominated in British pounds, Japanese yen, or US dollars.”.

50. In Section 47 paragraph 1, letter c) is deleted.

51. In Section 47 paragraph 6, the following sentence is added at the end:
    “
    If the loan claim contract contains the option to change the type of interest rate during the remaining maturity of the loan claim, including the option conditional on the occurrence of a predetermined event, the remaining interest rates are considered a fixed type of interest rate, and the value of its valuation haircut is determined according to the remaining maturity of the loan claim.”.

52. In Section 47, paragraph 8 is deleted.

53. In Section 63 paragraph 3 letter c), the words “or are secured by a mortgage on real estate in the case of” are deleted, and the words “EU member state” are replaced with the words “member state of the EU”.

54. In Section 63, paragraphs 5 to 10 are deleted.

55. Annex No. 1 including the heading reads:
    “
    Annex No. 1 to Decision of the NBS No. 2/2015
    Methods of calculation of monetary sanctions for failure to fulfill the obligations of the contracting party

56. Calculation of the variable part of the monetary sanction for violation of procedures in the performance of monetary policy operations according to Section 5 paragraph 2 letters a) and b) and Section 5 paragraph 10.
    (MRi + 2.5) nt
    (X) x _____________ x ___________ = sanction in euros rounded to the nearest cent 100 360 Abbreviations used X = value of collateral or cash that the contracting party to the NBS was unable to deliver or settle,

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MRi = interest rate for one-day refinancing operations valid on the first day of non-compliance with procedures,
2.5 = penalty surcharge,
nt = number of days of violation of procedures; if nt > 7, then nt = 7.

2. Calculation of the variable part of the monetary sanction for violation of procedures related to the use of acceptable assets and rules of their use, according to Section 5 paragraph 2 letter c).
   (MRi + 2.5) nt
   EA x _____________ x ___________ = sanction in euros rounded to the nearest cent 100 360 Abbreviations used EA = a) value of each individual asset after applying valuation haircuts and, if relevant, also a climate factor, which could not be used by the contracting party to the NBS as collateral upon delivery to the NBS, b) value of each individual asset after applying valuation haircuts and, if relevant, also a climate factor, after 7 days from the time when they could not be used as collateral by the contracting party to the NBS. In the event of a violation of the limit according to Section 36 paragraph 8, the aforementioned 7-day period applies only if the limit was exceeded due to an increase in the value of uncovered bank bonds after applying valuation haircuts and, if relevant, also a climate factor currently used as collateral by the contracting party to the NBS, or a decrease in the total value of collateral after applying valuation haircuts and, if relevant, also a climate factor provided by the contracting party to the NBS without any assets being removed from the pooling account (including repaid assets), whereby the delivery of additional uncovered bank bonds issued by a credit institution or another entity with which the credit institution has close links does not entitle the repeated provision of the 7-day period, c) value by which the remaining value of the loan claim used as collateral was unjustifiably higher based on incorrect or unupdated information from the contracting party to the NBS according to Section 36 paragraph 11, or if the contracting party to the NBS does not provide on time the information required according to Section 37 paragraphs 16 to 18 and 5. In these cases, the 7-day period does not apply. In the case of loan claims, for which the correction of incorrect or missing data occurs, as specified in Section 43 paragraph 3, during the following business day, no penalty is imposed, MRi = interest rate for one-day refinancing operations valid on the first day of non-compliance with procedures,
   2.5 = penalty surcharge,
   nt = number of days of violation of procedures; if nt > 7, then nt = 7.

3. Calculation of the variable part of the monetary sanction for violation of procedures
   for the automatic provision of one-day refinancing operations at the end of the business day, according to Section 5 paragraph 2 letter d) and for failure to fulfill payment obligations according to Section 5 paragraph 2 letter e).
   (MRi + 5) 1
   ZZ x _____________ x ___________ = sanction in euros rounded to the nearest cent 100 360

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Abbreviations used
ZZ = value of the operation drawn by the contracting party to the NBS, which did not meet the conditions for the provision of a one-day refinancing operation, or unpaid loan from the Eurosystem, MRi = interest rate for one-day refinancing operations valid on the first day of non-compliance with procedures, 5 = penalty surcharge, which increases by 2.5 for each violation of procedures during a 12-month period starting from the date of the first violation of procedures.”.

56. In Annex No. 2, the words “according to Section 5 paragraph 5” are replaced with the words “according to Section 5 paragraph 6”.

57. In Annex No. 3 part 1.2 point 1.2.1 paragraph 3, the words “according to Section 5 paragraphs 11) to 21)” are replaced with the words “according to Section 5a”.

58. In Annex No. 12, Table No. 1a including the heading reads:
    “
    Table No. 1a Height of haircut applied to acceptable marketable assets
    in the category of valuation haircuts V
    (in %)
    Category of valuation haircuts V
    Credit quality Weighted average time to maturity (WAL)1) Valuation haircut Levels 1 and 2 (AAA to A-) [0,1) 4.0 [1,3) 5.0 [3,5) 7.0 [5,7) 9.0 [7,10) 12.0 [10,15) 18.0 [15,30) 20.0 [30, ∞) 22.0 Level 3 (BBB+ to BBB-) [0,1) 7.0 [1,3) 10.0 [3,5) 13.0 [5,7) 15.0 [7,10) 18.0 [10,15) 27.0 [15,30) 31.0 [30, ∞) 33.0 .”.

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59. The Decision is supplemented by Annex No. 28, which including the heading reads:

“Annex No. 28 to NBS Decision No. 2/2015
ESTABLISHMENT OF CLIMATE FACTORS APPLICABLE TO TRADABLE ASSETS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MITIGATING UNCERTAINTY RELATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE

1. The climate factor referred to in Section 45(3)(e) applies to tradable assets issued by non-financial corporations and their respective group of corporate issuers, with the exception of:
   a) debt securities issued by agencies under Section 2(a), b) debt securities issued by entities in liquidation under Section 2(bg), c) debt securities for which the credit quality assessment is determined under Section 41(8)(a) and (b), and d) debt securities issued by credit institutions within the group of corporate issuers.

2. For each asset i of enterprise j in sector s, the score assessing its sensitivity to climate change uncertainties (hereinafter referred to as “uncertainty score”) is calculated using the following formula:

u_i,j,s = V_i × E_j × S_s

with these variables:
a) sector-specific stress factor S_s derived from the aggregate increase in the expected deficit at the sector level in the case of an adverse transition scenario compared to the baseline scenario from the last available Eurosystem climate stress test; this indicator is the same for all assets issued by entities within that sector, b) issuer-specific exposure E_j based on the inverse value of the climate score determined within the corporate sector asset purchase program, as established by a special regulation;1) this indicator is the same for all assets issued by the same entity, c) asset-specific vulnerability V_i equal to the square root of the remaining maturity of the asset; this indicator is specific to each asset.

3. The uncertainty score for individual assets is converted into a climate factor (CF) for individual assets using the following formula:

CF(u_i,j,s) = a + (1 − a) / (1 + e^(u_i,j,s × b))

with these two parameters:
a) parameter a is determined by the ECB Governing Council and is based primarily on the expected aggregate deficit in all sectors in the case of an adverse transition scenario compared to the baseline scenario from the last available Eurosystem climate stress test, b) parameter b is determined by the ECB Governing Council and is based primarily on the median uncertainty score u_bar of all assets subject to the climate factor, and is calculated using the following natural logarithmic formula:

b = ln(1 + 1/u_bar)

c) parameters a and b are the same for all assets subject to the climate factor; the highest possible climate factor is one for assets with the lowest uncertainty score, while the lowest possible climate factor equals parameter a for assets with the highest uncertainty score.

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4. The value of the collateral for each asset or the amount of the loan that may be provided if a party provides this asset as collateral is calculated by multiplying its value adjusted for haircuts and, if applicable, the corresponding climate factor.

5. The uncertainty score and climate factor applicable to individual assets will be updated once a year. Assets that become acceptable between two annual updates are initially assigned the median climate factor calculated using the following formula:

CF(u_i,j,s) = (CF_bar_b for all bonds issued + CF_bar_m for all medium-term notes issued + CF_bar_c for all commercial paper issued) / 3,

where CF_bar_b is the latest median climate factor for all bonds for which the climate factor was calculated at the last annual update, CF_bar_m is the latest median climate factor for all medium-term notes for which the climate factor was calculated at the last annual update, and CF_bar_c is the latest median climate factor for all commercial paper for which the climate factor was calculated at the last annual update. This climate factor applies until the next annual update of the uncertainty score and climate factor.

“1) Annex to the Decision of the European Central Bank (EU) 2016/948 of 1 June 2016 on the implementation of the corporate sector asset purchase programme (ECB/2016/16) (OJ EU L 157, 15.6.2016).”.

Article II
This Decision enters into force on 30 March 2026.

Peter Kažimír in his own hand governor

Issuing unit: Risk Management Department