Circular Letter No. CC/2021/00000058

Circular Letter No. CC/2021/00000058 Sent to: Credit Institutions, Investment Firms, and Shareholding Management Companies. Mod. 40000375/T – 01/14 Subject: Revision of the Joint EBA/ESMA Guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders (EBA/GL/2021/06)

The European Banking Authority (hereinafter referred to as EBA) published on 2 July 2021 the document entitled “Joint ESMA and EBA Guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders under Directive 2013/36/EU and Directive 2014/65/EU” (EBA/GL/2021/06), addressed to competent authorities, credit institutions, financial institutions, mixed financial holding companies and investment firms, which will enter into force on 31 December 2021 and will revoke the guidelines published on 26 September 2017 (EBA/GL/2017/12). These revised Guidelines can be consulted on the EBA’s official website (1), as well as the Portuguese language version, published on 19 October 2021 (2).

This new version resulted from the revision conducted by the EBA of EBA/GL/2017/12 in order to enshrine the legislative changes introduced into Directive (EU) 2013/33 of 26 June 2013 by Directive (EU) 2019/878 of 20 May 2019. Various guidelines were also introduced in line with other relevant Union instruments, such as Directive (EU) 2014/59 of 15 May 2014 and Directive (EU) 2015/849 of 20 May 2015.

Institutions included within the scope of application of these Guidelines should, from now on, adopt the necessary measures to implement the new requirements in their internal processes with a view to complying with them from 31 December 2021.

The Banco de Portugal stresses the importance of institutions giving due compliance to the guidelines contained in the document in question, which must be followed and applied in the context of the legislation and regulation in force and, in particular, function as a complement to the provisions contained in the General Regime of Credit Institutions and Financial Companies regarding the matters in question.

Mod. 40000375/T – 01/14 (1)https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/documents/files/document_library/Publications/Guidelines/2021/EBA-GL-2021-06%20Joint%20GLs%20on%20the%20assessment%20of%20suitability%20%28fit%26propoer%29/1022127/Final%20report%20on%20joint%20EBA%20and%20ESMA%20GL%20on%20the%20assessment%20of%20suitability.pdf (2)https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/documents/files/document_library/Publications/Guidelines/2021/EBA-GL-2021-06%20Joint%20EBA%20and%20ESMA%20GL%20on%20the%20assessment%20of%20sustainability/1022103/Joint%20EBA%20and%20ESMA%20GL%20on%20the%20assessment%20of%20suitability_PT.pdf