BS17 – Version 1.0 0
BS17
Open Bank Resolution
(OBR) Pre-Positioning
Requirements Policy
Purpose of document
This document sets out the Reserve Bank’s policy for open bank resolution prepositioning by banks.
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Document Version History
September 2013 First issue date
June 2022 Revised
Legal Powers
Section 74 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 (the Act) permits the Reserve Bank of
New Zealand (the Reserve Bank) to impose conditions of registration on any bank relating to,
among other things, the matters referred to in sections 78(1)(e), (1)(fa) and (1)(fb) of the Act.
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BS17: Open Bank Resolution (OBR) Pre-Positioning
Requirements
Part A: Introduction
Part B: The OBR Policy and Condition of Registration
Part C: Requirements for Pre-Positioning
Contents
Part A: Introduction
A1 Open Bank Resolution (OBR) and the
Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s
Objectives
A2 Application of Policy
A3 Definitions
Part B: The OBR Policy and Condition of
Registration
B1 Condition of Registration
B2 The OBR Process and Pre-Positioning
Requirements
B3 OBR Implementation Plan
B3.1 Other Key Components of the
Implementation Plan
B4 Material to be Provided
Part C: Requirements for Pre-Positioning
C1 Pre-Positioning for the Appointment
of a Statutory Manager and closing
access channels
C1.1 Outcome
C1.2 OBR Requirements
C1.3 Closing Access Channels
C2 Pre-Positioning Customer Liability
Accounts
C2.1 Outcome
C2.2 OBR Requirements
C2.3 Pre-Positioned Liabilities
C2.4 Non Pre-Positioned Liabilities
C3 Determining the Customer Liability
Account Balance
C3.1 Outcome
C3.2 OBR Requirement
C3.3 Process Pending Payments
C3.4 Customer Balances
C4 Applying the de minimis
C4.1 Outcome
C4.2 OBR Requirement
C4.3 Overview
C4.4 Applying the de minimis
C5 Applying the Partial Freeze
C5.1 Outcome
C5.2 OBR Requirements
C5.3 Applying the Partial Freeze
C6 Reopening Access Channels and
Reinstating Access to Unfrozen Funds
C6.1 Outcome
C6.2 OBR Requirements
C6.3 Process
C7 Re-Instating Access to Residual Frozen
Funds
C7.1 Outcome
C7.2 OBR Requirement
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Part A: Introduction
A1 Open Bank Resolution (OBR) and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s
Objectives
- This document sets out the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (Reserve Bank) policy on prepositioning requirements for Open Bank Resolution (OBR) for locally-incorporated registered
banks with retail deposits in excess of $1 billion dollars. It also applies to locally incorporated
banks that decide to opt-in, and are subsequently required to comply with the policy. It
describes the policy, the OBR process, and the requirements on banks.
- The Reserve Bank has powers under Part 5 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 (the
Act) to register banks and undertake prudential supervision of registered banks.
- Section 68 of the Act requires the powers under Part 5 of the Act to be exercised for the
purposes of:
a. promoting the maintenance of a sound and efficient financial system; or
b. avoiding significant damage to the financial system that could result from the failure
of a registered bank.
- The OBR policy supports the objective of avoiding significant damage to the financial system
arising from a bank failure. OBR achieves this by providing the government with an option that
would minimise spill-over costs to the rest of the economy and help manage fiscal risk. In the
process, OBR strengthens the incentives faced by depositors, creditors and parent groups. It
places the cost of a failure in the first instance on shareholders but also provides the flexibility to
assign losses to creditors without causing unnecessary disruption to the payments system, thus
promoting the maintenance of a sound and efficient financial system.
- OBR ‘pre-positioning’ is a mechanism for providing bank customers continued access to liquidity
and banking service in a bank failure event. Pre-positioning means having the IT, payments,
resource and process functionality in place ahead of a crisis, such that should a bank enter into
statutory management, access channels can be closed, a portion of customer funds can be
frozen, and access channels can be reopened for business by no later than 9am the next
business day enabling customers to have access to the available or good portion of their funds.
- Notwithstanding the pre-positioning, there is no obligation on the part of government to use
OBR in the event of the failure of a registered bank. Any decision on applying OBR to a particular
bank will be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account specific bank and wider
financial system issues.
A2 Application of Policy
- All locally-incorporated banks with retail deposits over NZ$1 billion are required to pre-position
for OBR.
- Other locally-incorporated registered banks that do not fall within this category and take in retail
deposits may elect to be OBR-capable, but would then also be subject to a condition of
registration that requires compliance with the OBR pre-positioning requirements policy.
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3. This policy does not apply to any New Zealand registered bank that operates in New Zealand as
a branch of an overseas-incorporated bank.
A3 Definitions
For the purposes of this document—
- “Business day” means a day of the week other than–
a. any calendar day that is a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday (as listed in section
44(1) of the Holidays Act 2003 but excluding the day of the anniversary of a province
or the day locally observed as that day); and
b. a day that is specified in any of the following paragraphs as not being a business day:
i. if Waitangi Day or Anzac Day falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the following
Monday is not a business day;
ii. if Christmas Day or New Year’s Day falls on a Friday, the following Monday is
not a business day;
iii. if Christmas Day or New Year’s Day falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the
following Monday and Tuesday are not business days; and
iv. if any other public holiday other than those listed in (b)(i) to (iii) above falls
on a Saturday or a Sunday, the following Monday is not a business day
provided that the Holidays Act 2003 or other relevant governing legislation
of that public holiday intended that it be transferred to a week day.
- “Compendium of liabilities” is the list of pre-positioned liabilities and non pre-positioned
liabilities classified at the product class level and agreed with the Reserve Bank.
- “Customer account”, “customer liabilities”, or “customer liability accounts” are unsecured
liabilities of the bank represented by a range of products such as cheques, savings and other
transactional accounts and including term deposits; these are considered in-scope for prepositioning as described in this document.
- “De minimis” is a dollar amount in relevant customer liability accounts that is protected from the
allocation of losses and remains fully available to the account holders when the bank reopens the
next business day following the appointment of a statutory manager.
- “Effective Time” means the date on which, and the time at which, the Order in Council
appointing the statutory manager becomes effective, as set out in that Order in Council.
- “ESAS” is the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Exchange Settlement Account System that is used
by banks and other approved financial institutions to settle their obligations on a Real-Time Gross
Settlement (RTGS) basis.
- “Frozen funds” refer to the inaccessible portion of the customer liability accounts and “unfrozen
funds or balances” are the accessible portion of customer liability accounts when the bank
reopens or upon instruction of the statutory manager.
- “Implementation Plan” is the bank’s documentation of its OBR design solution and includes the
Compendium of liabilities, an end of day process timeline, a run sheet (an outline of the
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sequence of events), the governance and resourcing arrangements, testing strategy, and the
overall management of risks and contingencies, including any other relevant supporting
documents to comply with the OBR pre-positioning requirements and deliver the OBR outcomes
described in this document.
9. “In flight transaction” is a transaction for which processing has commenced but the interbank
element has not yet been settled in ESAS at the effective time.
10. “OBR functionality” is the bank’s operational and systems-based capability to execute prepositioned processes and arrangements that would enable customers to have access to the
unfrozen portion of their funds no later than 9am the next business day after the appointment of
a statutory manager.
11. “On-us payment instructions” are transactions where the relevant bank accounts of both the
payer and the payee are held with the same bank and no inter-bank payment is required for
these transactions to be completed.
12. “Partial freeze” is the act of suspending the payment of a proportion of the bank’s unsecured
liabilities, with the effect that the frozen component remains inaccessible.
13. “Pre-positioned liabilities” cover all liabilities required to be pre-positioned and “non prepositioned liabilities” are those liabilities that are not required to be pre-positioned as explained in
section 9 below.
14. “Retail deposits” are deposit liabilities held by persons, and exclude liabilities with outstanding
balances of more than $250,000.
15. “Statutory management” means statutory management under the Reserve Bank of New
Zealand Act 1989.
16. “Systems” means all property, rights, controls, and data owned, operated or used by the bank.
The term includes bank officers and staff performing management, administrative and
information technology functions, as well as any function relating to any business of the bank that
is carried on by a person other than the bank.
17. The rest of this document is structured as follows:
a. Part B provides an overview of the OBR process and the condition of registration on
OBR pre-positioning to which this policy pertains; and
b. Part C expands on the OBR pre-positioning requirements. Each section starts with
the expected outcome, followed by a list of requirements on banks and further detail
about the requirements.
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Part B: The OBR Policy and Condition of Registration
B1 Condition of Registration
- Section 74 of the Act permits the Reserve Bank to impose conditions of registration that relate to,
among other things, the matters referred to in section 73(2)(c) of the Act, namely the ability of
the applicant i.e., the registered bank, to carry on its business or proposed business in a prudent
manner.
- Locally-incorporated registered banks that are required to pre-position or those that decide to
opt-in and be covered by the policy, are subject to a condition of registration relating to OBR
requirements.
- Under the Reserve Bank’s OBR pre-positioning requirements policy, a New Zealand-incorporated
registered bank with retail deposits of over NZ$1 billion is subject to the standard condition of
registration set out in the Appendix of this document.
- The condition of registration (except for the start date) also applies to registered banks that
decide to opt-in or comply with the OBR pre-positioning requirements policy.
- Broadly speaking, this condition requires the registered bank to (i) be pre-positioned for OBR; (ii)
have an Implementation Plan that meets the pre-positioning requirements; and (iii) have a
regular process to test that the pre-positioned arrangements work as intended and ensure
durable compliance with the OBR policy.
- Although the Reserve Bank will generally seek to impose the standard OBR pre-positioning
requirements condition of registration uniformly on relevant registered banks, the Reserve Bank
may impose a variation of this condition of registration on a bank if appropriate in the
circumstances.
B2 The OBR Process and Pre-Positioning Requirements
- OBR is an option that provides the ability to allocate losses to creditors of the failed bank without
causing unnecessary disruption to the payments system and bank customers’ access to liquidity.
As a general principle, first losses are allocated to and borne by shareholders followed by holders
of subordinated debt. Claims of capital providers and other subordinated creditors will be fully
frozen and will not be available for payment unless the senior creditors are paid in full.
- The complete OBR cycle from closure to resolution can be broken down into the following
phases:1
a. putting the bank in statutory management and temporarily closing the bank;
b. preventing customer access to the bank and freezing all liabilities in full effective
when the bank is put into statutory management;
c. determining customer liability account balances at the effective time;
d. applying the de minimis if required;
1 The last three steps are presented for completeness, and do not form part of the bank’s overnight process cycle required to enable it to reopen by no later than 9am the
following business day.
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e. applying the partial freeze, to customer liability accounts based on estimated losses;
f. securing government support, via a guarantee for the unfrozen funds and other new
liabilities entered into by the reopened bank;
g. reopening the bank for core transaction business by 9am the next business day;
h. freezing other liabilities until these are dealt with by the statutory manager;
i. applying a partial freeze to all other unsecured liabilities that have not been prepositioned;
j. releasing additional frozen funds at a later time if directed by the statutory manager;
and
k. determining the future operations and potential restructuring of the failed bank.
3. Suspending the ability of customers to access their funds and freezing a proportion of their funds
in the bank would be carried out overnight, with the bank reopening by no later than 9am the
next business day.2 Customers would then have access to their unfrozen funds. Additional funds
can be made available at a later date but this will be dependent on the determination of final
losses.
4. The OBR process is illustrated in the diagram below.
2 The overnight processing assumes that the day after the appointment of the statutory manager is a business day and not a weekend nor a public holiday. If the bank is placed in
statutory management on a Friday or Saturday, the ‘overnight process’ technically spans the period from the appointment of the statutory manager to the next business day.
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Notes:
Day 1— day the bank is placed in statutory management
Day 2— the next business day after the bank is placed in statutory management
If the bank is placed in statutory management on a Friday or Saturday, the ‘overnight process’ technically
spans the period from the appointment of the statutory manager to the next business day.
5. A registered bank to which the policy applies is required to put in place OBR pre-positioned
operational and technical arrangements. The registered bank must have in place pre-positioned
IT functionality that is adequate in the Reserve Bank’s view for purposes of compliance with the
OBR pre-positioning requirements policy as set out in this document.
6. The table below summarises the OBR outcomes and the requirements on registered banks to be
able to deliver those outcomes.
Effect on the bank Effect on the customer
BANK OPEN
(Day 1) Initial loss assessment
BANK CLOSED
(Overnight)
Accounts frozen
Account balances determined
Refined assessment of losses and
freeze calculation applied
Statements issued assuring
guarantee of unfrozen balances
Un-freeze portion of
customer accounts
BANK OPEN Bank re-enters payment system
(Day 2)
Customer has access to
unfrozen portion
POST OBR
PERIOD
Re-assess losses in view of
emerging information
Additional funds
released if available
Access channels to bank closed
and bank placed in statutory
management
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OBR Outcomes Required functionality to deliver the outcomes
- That the bank can be closed
promptly at any time of the day
and on any day of the week,
freezing in full all liabilities and
preventing access by customers
and counterparties to their
accounts.
a. The bank must be prepared for the appointment of a statutory
manager at any time of the day and any day of the week.
b. The bank must develop and maintain robust access channel
closing procedures to prevent access by customers and
counterparties to their accounts, credit balances and other
banking facilities at the bank effective as at the date on which
and the time at which the bank was put in statutory
management (i.e., the effective time).
- That the bank’s customers are
able to access pre-positioned
accounts quickly, i.e. no later
than 9am the next business day
after a statutory manager is
appointed, to fund their day to
day operational requirements.
a. The bank must pre-position customer liability accounts, maintain
an up to date compendium of liabilities, and establish a process
to ascertain if a new product is in-scope for pre-positioning or
not.
b. The bank must have the ability to determine the customer
liability account balances in the records of the bank at the
effective time, subject to any adjustment to reflect the
processing of on-us payment instructions and treatment of inflight transactions applying the procedures described in the OBR
policy.
c. The bank must have the capacity to implement or execute the de
minimis, if required, and apply it to relevant pre-positioned
customer liability account balances in accordance with the
specifications set out in the OBR policy.
- That the bank suspends the
payment of a proportion of
customer account balances to
meet estimated potential losses.
a. The bank must have the functionality to apply a partial freeze to
a proportion of customer liability account balances (proportion
to be advised by the statutory manager) that are in-scope for
pre-positioning.
b. This freeze application process must be completed within a cycle
or timeframe that will enable the bank to allow customers to
access their accounts by no later than 9am the next business day
following the appointment of a statutory manager.
- That the bank’s customers are
able to access their accounts the
next business day after a
statutory manager is appointed.
a. The bank must have the capability to reopen access channels as
may be authorised by the statutory manager no later than 9am
the next business day.
- That the bank maintains a full
freeze on liabilities not prepositioned.
a. When the bank reopens the next business day, the freeze on
other liabilities that are out of scope for pre-positioning remains
in effect, until these liabilities are dealt with by the statutory
manager in due course.
- That the bank reinstates access
by customers to parts or all of
their frozen balances.
a. The bank must have the capacity to release parts or all of the
frozen balances in subsequent periods as may be directed by
the statutory manager (i.e. the bank must have the ability to
release frozen balances in stages).
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B3 OBR Implementation Plan
- The Implementation Plan is a key part of the documented evidence that pre-positioned
arrangements to quickly close the bank, freeze a portion of customers’ claims to meet potential
losses, and reopen the next business day and continue banking services, are in place.
- The Implementation Plan provides a summary statement of the bank’s OBR design solution, and
illustrates that it meets the pre-positioning requirements: (i) pre-positioning for the appointment
of a statutory manager at any time of the day and any day of the week and closing access
channels; (ii) pre-positioning for customer accounts and determining the customer liability
account balances; (iii) applying the de minimis and the partial freeze; and (iv) re-instating access
to the unfrozen funds and residual frozen funds. It must explain the bank’s design principles,
governance and resourcing arrangements, and testing and compliance programme.
- Due to the limited time available to process payment instructions to accounts and allow
customers’ access to their accounts no later than 9am the next business day, it is expected that
pre-positioning will typically be by way of automated IT functionality. However, there may be
situations where pre-positioning takes the form of a manual process that is undertaken on the
day of failure, provided it can be demonstrated that the process can be effectively and efficiently
executed by bank staff available on the day, without compromising the reopening time of 9am
the next business day. All manual processes associated with pre-positioning for OBR and any
variations or modifications adopted will need to be agreed to by the Reserve Bank and must
form part of the bank’s Implementation Plan.
- As the OBR requirements are largely focussed on outcomes, banks are able to come up with
bespoke technical design solutions for their own OBR functionality, provided these are
acceptable to the Reserve Bank. This recognises that banks have different operating systems, and
this in turn affects how outstanding account balances are calculated, which is dependent on their
IT configuration, process cycles and specific product features. An example is the treatment of
term deposits. Banks have varying product features and interest accrual cycles and hence, are
given the flexibility in choosing which design approach would suit their situation. Early repayment
of term deposits is not expected to be allowed by the statutory manager.
- In order to have confidence that the pre-positioned arrangements will work in a bank failure,
there must be a regular process to test that the arrangements will work as intended. Banks are
expected to develop and maintain a test strategy that ensures durable compliance with the OBR
policy. The test strategy must demonstrate that the OBR design solution will achieve the
outcomes required by the policy.
B3.1 Other Key Components of the Implementation Plan
Compendium of Liabilities
- The “Compendium of liabilities” is a core feature of the Implementation Plan. The Compendium
itemises the bank’s liabilities at the product class level, specifying whether the liability has been
pre-positioned for OBR or not as at the date the compendium is issued. The Compendium must
be agreed to by the Reserve Bank. Variations to the compendium are expected to be agreed
within twenty (20) working days of the request being received (and receipt acknowledged) by the
Reserve Bank. If the Reserve Bank has not responded to the request by the expiration of the
twenty day period, the variation is deemed to have been agreed to.
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7. On an on-going basis, the bank must have a process to determine if a new product is in-scope
for pre-positioning or not. If the bank is unsure about the appropriate treatment of a new
product, it may refer the matter to the Reserve Bank. The Reserve Bank may approve in principle
the pre-positioning treatment of new products whilst at the development stage.
8. A stylised compendium of liabilities is presented in the Annex.
9. Timeline: The timeline must indicate the length of time to: (i) close all access channels, and (ii) to
execute the end of day processes necessary to be completed in order to reopen by no later than
9am the next business day.
10. Run sheet: The run sheet must show the sequence of events or steps to be undertaken from the
receipt by the bank of the direction to prepare for the closure of access channels up to the
bank’s reopening the next business day. Manual processes must also be disclosed.
11. Review of service contracts: The bank must conduct an assessment of its agency banking
arrangements, if applicable, and review contracts with core service providers who provide
services essential to complete the OBR process successfully. This is to ensure that any agency
banking arrangements or contracts with service providers incorporate arrangements necessary to
have continuing access to services that may be critical to the bank’s continued operations when it
enters statutory management.
12. OBR testing and compliance
a. The various component parts of the OBR programme must be tested at least on an
annual basis. Testing of the full OBR solution is not required to be completed via a
single end-to-end process test. Each element or component may be tested
independently during the annual cycle. The bank may conduct its regular OBR
testing alongside its business continuity planning.
b. Testing of the full OBR solution must be undertaken against a range of circumstances
including closure at any time of the day and any day of the week, to ensure that the
bank is able to deliver the required OBR prepositioning outcomes at any point in the
future.
c. There must be a process to ascertain that all appropriate products are prepositioned including new products that may be introduced or offered by the bank in
the future.
d. The testing and compliance programme covers both the technical solution and
business processes, including manual arrangements, if any.
e. The bank must determine if it is necessary to undertake more frequent testing in
situations where it has undergone or completed system and/or organisational
changes that may impact on the effective execution of OBR. Should the
Implementation Plan require amendment to maintain compliance with the policy, the
Reserve Bank should be promptly advised of the steps taken to remedy the situation.
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13. The testing and compliance programme must cover, at a minimum, the following:
a. the scope of testing to be conducted, test data required, and the test environment
requirements;
b. the testing method or approach to be undertaken including the robustness and
integrity of the processes;
c. performance testing of manual processes
d. criteria, standards or measurement metrics that would enable an assessment of
success; and
e. the intended frequency of testing including internal signoffs.
B4 Material to be Provided
- Banks must make available to the Reserve Bank a copy of the most recent Implementation Plan
(including any relevant supporting documents, e.g. operations manual), which can be in
electronic or hardcopy form.
- The pre-positioning requirements are described in more detail below.
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Part C: Requirements for Pre-Positioning
C1 Pre-Positioning for the Appointment of a Statutory Manager and
closing access channels
C1.1 Outcome
- That the bank can be closed promptly at any time of the day and on any day of the week,
freezing in full all liabilities and preventing access by customers and counterparties to their
accounts.
C1.2 OBR Requirements
- The bank must be prepared for the appointment of a statutory manager at any time of the day
and on any day of the week.
- The bank must develop and maintain robust access channel closing procedures to prevent
access by customers and counterparties to their accounts, credit balances and other banking
facilities at the bank in statutory management.
- The bank must indicate to the Reserve Bank the latest time that it can be placed in statutory
management and reopen by no later than 9am the next business day, as well as the duration or
time required to close down all access channels. The closure of access channels will be initiated
by a direction from the Reserve Bank and must be completed at the stated time of the
appointment of the statutory manager.
C1.3 Closing Access Channels
- The Act provides the Governor General with the power to place a bank into statutory
management on the advice of the Minister of Finance following a recommendation by the
Reserve Bank.3 Once a bank is placed into statutory management, creditors’ claims against the
bank are subject to a statutory moratorium.
- In recommending the appointment of the statutory manager, the Reserve Bank takes into
account the time required by the bank, as disclosed in its Implementation Plan, to close all access
channels and execute its overnight end of day process in time to reopen by no later than 9am
the next business day.4
- Banks pre-positioning should recognise that the appointment of a statutory manager may take
place at any time. That is, the OBR process has to be robust to a closure at any time during the
day and on any day of the week.
- The closure of channels will be by way of a direction issued by the Reserve Bank with the consent
of the Minister of Finance under section 113 of the Act.
- The direction will require the bank to go through its shutdown procedure and have the capability
to disable any capacity to initiate or accept banking transactions at the effective time. The closure
of customer access channels is to coincide with the time the bank is placed into statutory
management.
3 Refer to sections 117 to 156 of the Reserve Bank Act 1989 for details on statutory management of registered banks.
4 In the event that the bank is constrained from completing its overnight OBR processes in time to re-open by 9am the next business day due to the timing of the statutory
manager’s appointment, the 9am re-opening time may be delayed to allow the processing to be completed.
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10. The process for closing customer access channels may take the form of a documented manual
process (e.g. branch closure, internet and telephone banking taken to offline status, etc.) or an
automated shut down process or a mixture of both.
11. If the bank is a merchant acquirer or an ATM acquirer, all merchant channels and ATMs will be
closed from the effective time. The merchant channels and ATMs are expected to be reopened
once the bank re-enters the payment system provided all conditions for re-entry are met. If the
bank is a card issuer, all cards issued are blocked from the effective time and expected to be unblocked when the bank re-enters the payment system.
C2 Pre-Positioning Customer Liability Accounts
C2.1 Outcome
- That the bank’s customers are able to access the unfrozen balance of their accounts quickly after
a statutory manager is appointed.
C2.2 OBR Requirements
- The bank must pre-position for customer liability accounts considered in-scope as defined in this
document.
- The bank must establish and maintain an up-to-date compendium of liabilities identifying which
liabilities are pre-positioned for OBR.
C2.3 Pre-Positioned Liabilities
- For purposes of OBR, liabilities that are required to be pre-positioned represent a range of
products or facilities used by customers to access banking services. As banking services are
critical for these customers’ day-to-day operating requirements, interrupting such services
potentially carries high economic cost for customers as they may not be well placed to manage
such disruptions.
- Examples of bank products and facilities that are in-scope for pre-positioning are:
a. Transactional accounts or similar products used by individuals and businesses for
their transactional, everyday banking needs. Customers are able to access their
accounts through a number of channels such as internet, mobile banking, and
through branches or ATMs and using a wide range of payment instruments (e.g.
debit and credit cards). Savings accounts, credit balances on credit cards, and
revolving facilities with credit balances are also in-scope for pre-positioning.
b. Term deposit accounts, whilst not transactional in nature, are for OBR purposes
required to be pre-positioned as they are usually held by individuals and entities who
also engage in transactional banking. These deposits mature on a regular basis, and
pre-positioning them enables the bank to pay unfrozen funds on contracted maturity
dates.
c. The above products and facilities must be pre-positioned for OBR. The relevant
customer liability accounts related to the pre-positioned liabilities will have unfrozen
funds made accessible or available to the customer account holders by no later than
9am the next business day following the appointment of a statutory manager (except
for term deposits which will be accessible at maturity).
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C2.4 Non Pre-Positioned Liabilities
6. Non pre-positioned liabilities are those liabilities that are not required to be pre-positioned as
they are not in the nature of customer liabilities or customer liability accounts as described above.
They include liabilities to related parties as well as complex financial products that are generally
held by more sophisticated creditors or counterparties who can typically better manage
temporary illiquidity. They also include liabilities owed to suppliers and service providers as
payment for goods or services provided to the bank.
7. Liabilities that are not pre-positioned are frozen in full until the statutory manager is in a position
to release the unfrozen portion of these liabilities at a later date.
C3 Determining the Customer Liability Account Balance
C3.1 Outcome
- That the bank calculates the balances held by customers as at the effective time, adjusted for
pending payments, and completing the process cycle in time to reopen the next business day.
C3.2 OBR Requirement
- The bank must have the capacity to determine the customer account balance by applying the
procedures described in this document.
C3.3 Process Pending Payments
- In determining the customer liability account balance as at the effective time, the statutory
manager is generally expected to take the approach prescribed in part C3.3 sub-part 5 below.
- The amounts shown in the records of the registered bank as customer liability account balances
at the effective time will be adjusted to reflect the processing of on-us payment instructions; the
treatment of interbank in-flight transactions; and the treatment of transactions that are
dishonoured or reversed as stated below.
- For the purposes of OBR:
a. Transactions that have been settled via ESAS (i.e., the interbank element has been
settled) before the effective time are pre-statutory management transactions.
b. On-us payment instructions refer to instructions given by one customer to another
customer where both are customers of the bank in statutory management. On-us
payments that are pending in the bank at the effective time must be processed.
These payment instructions include standing direct debits and automatic payment
instructions for the day of statutory management that can be processed on that day
without further recourse to the initiator of the transaction (i.e., instructions are
validated and ready for posting and no further authority is required to post them),
but have not been completed when statutory management was declared.
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c. In-flight transactions: If at the time the statutory manager is appointed, the
processing of a transaction requiring interbank settlement has already commenced
but that transaction has not been settled in ESAS, the interbank element of the
transaction will be held over for processing once the bank has been permitted to reenter the payments system the next business day. These transactions are not
required to be unwound back to customer accounts. The account balance will reflect
the transaction as having been made, even though the interbank settlement and
interchange has not been completed and consequently, will not have been posted to
the recipient’s account. Similarly, transactions from other banks destined to the bank
in statutory management shall be held over for processing to be completed the next
business day. In relation to the settlement of card (i.e., debit or credit card
transaction) transactions (where the card transaction is initiated by a customer prior
to the effective time but settlement of the debt owed by the bank under statutory
management has not occurred), the statutory manager may exercise discretion as to
how these settlements are to be treated.
C3.4 Customer Balances
6. The customer liability account balance that has been adjusted to reflect the processing of on-us
payment instructions and treatment of in-flight transactions (as specified above), provides the
basis for the application of the de minimis, if required. It is also the balance to which the statutory
manager applies the partial freeze of a portion of the account balance based on the bank’s
estimated losses. The total customer liability account balance is made up of cleared and
uncleared funds.
7. Uncleared funds in the customer liability account balance may subsequently be dishonoured or
reversed by the statutory manager in accordance with existing business practices and
timeframes. It is expected that the statutory manager will make the appropriate adjustment to the
customer liability account balance for ‘business as usual’ dishonours and reversals, but will actively
monitor dishonour and reversal activity that is not deemed ‘business as usual’ activity and that
has the effect of frustrating the OBR process.
8. The process cycle for the application of the partial freeze applied to a proportion of customer
liability account balance must be completed in time to reopen the bank by no later than 9am the
next business day following the appointment of the statutory manager.
C4 Applying the de minimis
C4.1 Outcome
- That the bank applies the de minimis, if required, to relevant customer liability accounts to enable
quick access by these customers to funds that they need for their day-to-day operational
requirements.
C4.2 OBR Requirement
- The bank must have the capacity to apply a de minimis to relevant accounts in accordance with
the specifications described in this policy.
BS17 – Version 1.0 15
C4.3 Overview
3. The de minimis amount is a dollar amount in the relevant customer liability account that is
protected or exempt from the allocation of losses and will be fully available upon reopening of
the bank.
4. The Reserve Bank will direct the statutory manager to apply any de minimis.
5. There is no access to the accounts, including those that meet the de minimis criteria, whilst the
bank is closed. Access becomes available upon the reopening of the bank.
C4.4 Applying the de minimis
6. The de minimis concept applies only to pre-positioned liabilities of the bank that are available for
transactional use, such as cheque accounts and savings accounts (i.e., the relevant accounts).
Term deposits and foreign currency denominated accounts are excluded from the de minimis
application.
7. The de minimis is applied to each customer liability account separately, i.e., there is no
aggregation of accounts held by the same person or entity.
8. Relevant accounts with balances below and up to the specified de minimis threshold are exempt
from the application of the partial freeze. This exemption also applies to the balance up to the de
minimis level for relevant accounts whose outstanding balances exceed the de minimis threshold.
C5 Applying the Partial Freeze
C5.1 Outcome
- That the bank applies a partial freeze by suspending the payment of a proportion of the
customer liability account balance to meet estimated potential losses.
C5.2 OBR Requirements
- The bank must have the functionality to apply a partial freeze to a proportion of the customer
liability account balance in accordance with the specifications described in this policy.
- This freeze application process must be completed within a timeframe that will enable customers
to access their accounts by no later than 9am the next business day following the appointment of
a statutory manager.
C5.3 Applying the Partial Freeze
- The proportion of the liabilities that will be frozen and remain inaccessible is based on an
estimation of losses following an assessment of the net asset deficiency of the bank. The partial
freeze does not necessarily equate to the final outcome for customers. It is expressed as a
proportion or percentage (x percent) of customer liability account balance at the bank, rather
than as an absolute amount.
- The partial freeze is applied to the pre-positioned customer liability account balances above any
de minimis threshold. It is applied to each account separately i.e., there is no aggregation of
accounts held by the same person or entity.
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6. The process cycle for the application of the partial freeze must be completed in time to reopen
the bank by no later than 9am the next business day following the appointment of the statutory
manager.
7. After the application of the partial freeze, no additional funds will be frozen. As the statutory
management progresses, further funds may be unfrozen or made available and returned to
customers if asset recoveries exceed initial estimates. Therefore, the partial freeze (representing
the extent of potential losses allocated to customers) does not necessarily equate to the final
outcome for customers.
C6 Reopening Access Channels and Reinstating Access to Unfrozen Funds
C6.1 Outcome
- That the bank reopens the next business day following the appointment of the statutory
manager so that customers are able to access their unfrozen funds and resume banking services.
C6.2 OBR Requirements
- The bank must have the capacity to reopen customer access channels that the statutory
manager authorises to be reopened.
- The bank must have the capacity to reinstate customers’ access to the unfrozen portion of their
customer liability account balances, on reopening by no later than 9am the next business day
following the appointment of a statutory manager.5
The reopening time takes into consideration
the latest time that the bank can be placed under statutory management as specified in its
timeline (refer to Part B3 sub-part 9 above).
C6.3 Process
- The statutory manager decides which channels should be reopened. The statutory manager may
also reopen other banking services and facilities on a limited basis as may be appropriate under
the circumstances. The statutory manager on behalf of the bank will fulfil any conditions required
for re-entry into the payments system.
- The bank in statutory management may access liquidity from the market or the Reserve Bank as
may be required.
- The unfrozen funds will be supported by an appropriate government guarantee. The
government guarantee ends upon expiration of statutory management.
C7 Re-Instating Access to Residual Frozen Funds
C7.1 Outcome
- That the customers of the bank regain access to part or all of their frozen funds over time
depending on the resolution of the bank’s financial problems.
C7.2 OBR Requirement
- The bank must have the capacity to enable customers to regain access to part or all of their
frozen funds in subsequent periods as may be directed by the statutory manager, i.e., the bank
must have the ability to release frozen funds in stages.
5 For clarity, if the statutory manager is appointed on a Friday or Saturday and assuming Monday is not a public holiday, the bank is expected to re-open no later than 9am
Monday morning.
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3. The bank must maintain a full record of the frozen funds enabling subsequent releases if any, to
be paid to the owners of those funds.
4. The release of the frozen funds to customers could occur in variable amounts and staged over a
period that may not be known in advance.
5. The bank is not required to build a solution to calculate interest on the frozen portion of the
funds as part of its OBR functionality. In the event that surpluses are generated at a later stage,
the statutory manager will determine whether interest should be paid on the frozen funds and at
what rate.
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Note:
- The compendium is a listing of common banking products and instruments and whether they are in or
out of scope for pre-positioning. The OBR functionality is available for pre-positioned liabilities at the
date the compendium is issued. All other liabilities not pre-positioned are frozen in full until dealt with
by the statutory manager in due course.
- This compendium itemises the discrete classes of liabilities directly owed by the bank and does not
include obligations of the bank pertaining to its role as funds manager (e.g. Kiwisaver and PIE funds),
where the underlying customer liabilities are not on the bank’s balance sheet. Kiwisaver and PIE funds
invested in the bank’s products such as deposits will be treated like other customer accounts.
Annex
Illustrative Compendium of Liabilities (at the product class level)
Date
Liabilities Prepositioned
Deposits and Borrowings
Transaction Accounts Yes
Solicitor Trust accounts Yes
Savings Accounts Yes
Term Deposits Yes
Credit Balances on credit cards /travel cards/ mortgages/investment loans Yes
Foreign currency accounts Yes
Revolving credit facilities (credit balances) Yes
Overdraft facilities (credit balances) Yes
Letter of Credit No
Medium Term Notes No
Debentures No
Bonds No
Money Market
Certificates of Deposit No
Commercial Paper No
Call accounts Yes
Term deposits Yes
Derivative Financial Instruments
Foreign Exchange Contracts No
Forward Rate Agreements No
Futures No
Options No
Interest Rate Swaps No
Currency Swaps No
Credit Support Agreements No
Margin Calls No
Due to Controlled Entities and Associates
Due to Parent Company No
Due to Subsidiary Company No
Interest payable on amounts due to parent No
Other Liabilities
Accrual of Interest Coupons No
Open market positions No
Charity Accounts / Child Accounts Yes
Operating Expenses
Utilities No
Suppliers No
Employee Benefits No
IRD Payments
o Interest taxes No
o Payroll taxes No
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Appendix: Standard Conditions of Registration
From 30 June 2013 New Zealand-incorporated registered banks with retail deposits over NZ$1
billion must comply with the following conditions of registration.
- That the bank is pre-positioned for Open Bank Resolution and in accordance with a direction
from the Reserve Bank, the bank can –
a. close promptly at any time of the day and on any day of the week and that effective
upon the appointment of the statutory manager –
i. all liabilities are frozen in full; and
ii. no further access by customers and counterparties to their accounts
(deposits, liabilities or other obligations) is possible;
b. apply a de minimis to relevant customer liability accounts;
c. apply a partial freeze to the customer liability account balances;
d. reopen by no later than 9am the next business day following the appointment of a
statutory manager and provide customers access to their unfrozen funds;
e. maintain a full freeze on liabilities not pre-positioned for open bank resolution; and
f. reinstate customers’ access to some or all of their residual frozen funds.
For the purposes of this condition of registration, “de minimis”, “partial freeze”, “customer liability
account”, and “frozen and unfrozen funds” have the same meaning as in the Reserve Bank of
New Zealand document “Open Bank Resolution (OBR) Pre-positioning Requirements Policy”
(BS17) dated June 2022.
- That the bank has an Implementation Plan that—
a. is up-to-date; and
b. demonstrates that the bank’s prepositioning for Open Bank Resolution meets the
requirements set out in the Reserve Bank document: “Open Bank Resolution Prepositioning Requirements Policy” (BS 17).
For the purposes of this condition of registration, “Implementation Plan” has the same meaning
as in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand document “Open Bank Resolution (OBR) Pre-positioning
Requirements Policy” (BS17) dated June 2022.
- That the bank has a compendium of liabilities that—
a. at the product-class level lists all liabilities, indicating which are—
i. pre-positioned for Open Bank Resolution; and
ii. not pre-positioned for Open Bank Resolution;
b. is agreed to by the Reserve Bank; and
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c. if the Reserve Bank’s agreement is conditional, meets the Reserve Bank’s conditions.
For the purposes of this condition of registration, “compendium of liabilities”, and “pre-positioned
and non pre-positioned liabilities” have the same meaning as in the Reserve Bank of New
Zealand document “Open Bank Resolution (OBR) Pre-positioning Requirements Policy” (BS17)
dated June 2022.
4. That on an annual basis the bank tests all the component parts of its Open Bank Resolution
solution that demonstrates the bank’s prepositioning for Open Bank Resolution as specified in
the bank’s Implementation Plan.
For the purposes of this condition of registration, “Implementation Plan” has the same meaning
as in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand document “Open Bank Resolution (OBR) Pre-positioning
Requirements Policy” (BS17) dated June 2022.