2021-01-01
The Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro issued this Decision to establish the calculation methods, identification criteria, and management limits for large exposures of the Development Bank of Montenegro. The regulation defines connected persons based on control or economic dependency, sets exposure limits at 10% of Tier 1 capital for identification and up to 50% or 75% of own funds for specific exposures, and permits credit risk mitigation techniques to reduce calculated exposure values. The Development Bank is required to implement sound administrative procedures, conduct periodic stress tests, and report any breaches of these limits to the Central Bank of Montenegro without delay.
[unofficially consolidated translation] DECISION ON LARGE EXPOSURES OF THE DEVELOPMENT BANK OF MONTENEGRO (OGM 094/25 of 12 August 2025, 028/26 of 4 March 2026) I BASIC PROVISION Subject matter Article 1 This Decision shall govern the method for calculating large exposures of the Development Bank of Montenegro (hereinafter: the Development Bank), the criteria for identifying connectedness with a single person or a group of connected persons, credit risk mitigation techniques, and the reporting on large exposures. II CALCULATION OF LARGE EXPOSURES Calculation of the total exposure value Article 2 (1) The exposure means any asset or off-balance sheet item of the Development Bank which is determined in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3) of this Article. (2)The exposure value of an asset item shall be its accounting value reduced by the value adjustments, necessary reserves and other deductions from own funds related to that asset item. (3)The exposure value of an off-balance sheet item shall be the amount of its nominal value after the reduction of provisions for off-balance sheet items and the amount of necessary reserves multiplied by the corresponding conversion factor as established by the regulation governing the capital adequacy of the Development Bank. (4)The exposure of the Development Bank to a single person or a group of connected persons shall be deemed a large exposure where its value equals to or exceeds 10% of Tier 1 capital of the Development Bank. (5)The total exposure to a single person shall be the sum of exposures in the trading book and the exposures in the non-trading book. (6)The total exposure to a group of connected persons shall be the sum of exposures to persons belonging to that group of connected persons. (7)The group of connected persons shall be considered to be:
2 Identifying group of connected persons Article 3 (1)For the purpose of identifying a group of connected persons, the Development Bank shall determine whether two or more natural or legal persons constitute a single risk in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (7) of this Article and the criteria set forth in Annex 1 provided in the annex to this Decision which forms an integral part thereof. (2)Two or more natural or legal persons shall constitute a single risk where one of them, directly or indirectly, has control over another person or persons in at least one of the following situations:
3 9) where two or more legal persons are managed on a unified basis; 10) where the management body of two or more legal persons consists for a major part of the same natural persons; 11) where the majority of voting rights in two or more legal persons are held by the same natural or legal persons. (4)By way of derogation from paragraphs (2) and (3) of this Article, where the Development Bank may demonstrate that two or more natural or legal persons do not constitute a single risk, it is not required to identify these persons as a group of connected persons. (5)Three or more natural or legal persons shall constitute a single risk, when two or more of these persons, in accordance with paragraph (2) of this Article, constitute a single risk by means of control relationship (control group), and one or more natural or legal persons are connected to one or more of the persons being part of the control group by means of economic dependency in accordance with paragraph (3) of this Article. (6)Where the person that is connected by means of economic dependency in accordance with paragraph (3) of this Article is part of another group of connected persons, all persons, either being controlled by that economically dependent person or being themselves economically dependent on that person, shall constitute a single risk with the persons of the control group. (7)By way of derogation from paragraphs (5) and (6) of this Article, where the Development Bank may demonstrate that no single risk prevails with regard to three or more natural or legal persons, it is not required to identify these persons as a group of connected persons. Treatment of a group of persons connected with the central government Article 4 (1)Where a central government has direct or indirect control over or is directly or indirectly interconnected with more than one person referred to in Article 2 paragraph (7) of this Decision, the Development Bank need not treat a group consisting of the central government and those persons as a group of connected persons. (2)The central government referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article shall be the state administration bodies, government agencies and other entities whose powers cover the entire territory of the state, and which are, in accordance with the regulation governing the statistical reporting, classified as the central government. (3)In the case referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article, the Development Bank may assess the existence of a group of connected persons formed by the central government and other persons separately for each person for which the existence of a single risk has been identified, including the central government. (4)For the purposes of paragraph (3) of this Article, the Development Bank shall, when identifying a group of connected persons formed by the central government, apply the criteria laid down in Annex 1 to this Decision. Items not included in the calculation of exposures Article 5 When calculating large exposures, the Development Bank shall not take into account the following items:
4 2) in the case of transactions for the purchase or sale of securities, exposures incurred in the ordinary course of settlement which does not exceed five working days following payment or delivery of the securities, whichever the earlier; 3) exposures deducted from Common Equity Tier 1 capital or Additional Tier 1 capital or other reductions of Tier 1 capital for deductible items specified in the regulation governing the capital adequacy of the Development Bank. III MANAGING LARGE EXPOSURES Capacity to identify and manage large exposures Article 6 The Development Bank shall, in accordance with the Law on the Development Bank of Montenegro (hereinafter: the Law), put in place sound administrative and accounting procedures and adequate internal control mechanisms for the purpose of identifying, managing, monitoring, reporting and recording large exposures and subsequent changes to them, in accordance with the provisions of this Decision. Limits to large exposures Article 7 The Development Bank shall operate in accordance with the exposure limits to a single person or a group of connected persons prescribed by the Law, after taking into account the effects of credit risk mitigation techniques calculated in accordance with Articles 10 to 12 of this Decision in the following manner:
5 7) expected time needed to return to compliance with the large exposure limits. (3)The Central Bank may request the Development Bank to provide further information and explanations of reasons, if it is not satisfied that the information provided is sufficient to allow for a comprehensive assessment of the specific circumstances of the breach. Exposures to which large exposure limits are not applied Article 9 The provision of Article 7 of this Decision shall not apply to the following exposures:
6 Calculating the effect of the use of credit risk mitigation techniques Article 11 (1) When calculating the value of exposures for the purposes of Article 7 of this Decision, the Development Bank may use the fully adjusted exposure value as calculated in accordance with the provisions of the regulation governing capital adequacy of the Development Bank, taking into account the credit risk mitigation techniques. (2) After calculating the value of exposures referred to in Article 7 of this Decision, the Development Bank shall conduct periodic stress tests of their credit-risk concentrations, including stress tests of the exposure value that may be collected by realisation of collateral. (3) The periodic stress tests referred to in paragraph (2) of this Article shall address risks arising from potential changes in market conditions that could adversely impact the Development Bank's own funds adequacy, as well as risks arising from the realisation of collateral in specific stress events. (4) The Development Bank shall include the following in its internal acts to address concentration risk:
7 (3) Where the Development Bank applies the provision of paragraph (1) item 1) of this Article, the Development Bank:
8 ANNEX 1 Identifying interconnectedness of persons within the group of connected persons When determining interconnectedness of persons within the group of connected persons within the meaning of Article 3 of this Decision, the criteria referred to in this Annex shall apply. I Groups of connected persons based on control relationship
9 case where these persons are not included in the same consolidated financial statements because exemptions apply to them under the relevant accounting rules. 6. The Development Bank shall group two or more clients into a group of connected persons on account of a relationship of control among these persons regardless of whether or not the exposures to these persons are fully or partially exempted from the application of the large exposures limit under Article 9 of this Decision. II Alternative approach for exposures to central government
10 where the expected source of funds to repay the loans of two or more persons is the same and none of the persons has another independent source of income from which the loan may be serviced and fully repaid; other situations where persons are jointly liable for obligations to the Development Bank (e.g., a debtor and their co-borrower, or a debtor and their spouse/partner); where a significant part of the receivables or liabilities of a person is to another person. where persons have common owners, or shareholders or management bodies. For example, horizontal groups where a person is related to one or more other persons because they all have the same shareholder structure except for a single controlling shareholder or because they are managed on a unified basis. This management may be pursuant to a contract concluded between the persons, or to provisions in the memoranda or articles of association of those persons, or if the management or supervisory structures of the persons consist for the major part of the same persons. 4. Where the Development Bank’s client is economically dependent on multiple persons which are not interdependent, the Development Bank shall include the latter persons in separate groups of connected persons (together with the dependent person). 5. The Development Bank shall form a group of connected persons where two or more of their clients are economically dependent on an entity, even if this entity is not a client of the Development Bank. 6. The Development Bank should group two or more connected persons into a group of connected persons on account of economic dependency among these persons, regardless of whether or not the exposures to these persons are exempted from the application of the large exposures limit under Article 9 of this Decision. 7. The Development Bank should consider situations where the funding problems of one person are likely to spread to another on account of the dependency on the same funding source. This does not include cases where persons get funding from the same market (e.g., the market for commercial paper) or where persons’ dependency on their existing source of funding is caused by the persons’ deteriorating creditworthiness, such that they cannot easily replace that source of funding. 8. The Development Bank should consider cases where the common source of funding depended on is provided by the Development Bank itself, or its connected persons (see scenario E5 of this Annex). Being persons funded by the Development Bank, does not in itself create a requirement to group the persons if the Development Bank providing funding can be easily replaced. 9. The Development Bank should also assess any contagion or idiosyncratic risk that could emerge from the following situations: use of one funding entity; use of similar structures; reliance on commitments from one source (e.g., sureties, credit support in structured transactions or non-committed liquidity facilities), taking into account its solvency, especially where there are maturity mismatches and the frequency of the refinancing needs. IV Relation between interconnectedness through control and interconnectedness through economic dependency
11 2. In its assessment of interconnectedness, the Development Bank should consider each case separately, i.e., identify the possible chain of contagion (‘domino effect’) based on the individual circumstances (see scenarios C/E 1 and C/E 2 of this Annex). 3. Where persons that are part of different control groups are interconnected via economic dependency, all entities for which a chain of contagion exists need to be grouped into one group of connected persons. Downstream contagion should always be assumed when a person is economically dependent and is itself the head of a control group (see scenario C/E 3 of this Annex). 4. Upstream contagion of persons that control an economically dependent entity should be assumed only when this controlling person is also economically dependent on the entity that constitutes the economic link between the two controlling groups (see scenario C/E 4 of this Annex). V Control and management procedures for identifying connected persons
12 Examples of interconnectedness in the group of connected persons The scenarios included in this Annex illustrate the application of the guidelines to groups of connected persons falling under the definition in Article 2 paragraph (7) items 1) and 2) of this Decision. Groups of connected persons based on control Scenario C1: Exceptional case (no single risk exists despite the existence of control function of one person over another) The Development Bank has exposures to all entities shown below (A, B, C and D). Entity A has control over entities B, C and D. The entities B, C and D are special purpose entities. To assess if there is no single risk, despite the existence of a control relationship, the Development Bank should assess in relation to each of the SPEs (entities B, C and D in this scenario) the absence of economic interdependence or any other factors that could be indicative of a material positive correlation between the credit quality of the parent undertaking A and the credit quality of the SPE (B, C or D). Among other factors, potential reliance on parent undertaking A for funding sources and some of the criteria preventing the deconsolidation of the SPE or the derecognition of securitised assets under the applicable accounting rules have to be assessed as potential signs of material positive correlation. Having assessed all of these elements, the Development Bank could conclude that, for example, subsidiary undertakings B and C do not constitute a single risk with parent undertaking A. As a result, the Development Bank should consider that a group of connected persons is composed only of person A and D. The Development Bank should document these assessments and its conclusions in a comprehensive way. Alternative approach for exposures to central governments To illustrate the possible scenarios, the following general scenario is used: the central government directly controls four legal persons (A, B, C and D). Entities A and B themselves have direct control over two subsidiary undertakings each (A1/A2, B1/B2). The Development Bank has exposures to the central government and all of the entities shown. A B C D A D
13 Scenario CG1: Alternative approach – partial use The Development Bank could carve out only one group (‘central government / A /all controlled or dependent entities of A’) and keep the general treatment for the rest (‘central government /B, C and D /all controlled or dependent entities of B’): Scenario CG 2: Alternative approach – used for all directly dependent entities Central Government A B C D A1 A2 B1 B2 Central Government A A1 A2 Central Government C B1 B2 B D
14 Scenario CG 3: Alternative approach – applicable on “first/second level”, not below In the first and second scenarios, entities A, B, C and D constitute the ‘second level’, i.e., the level directly below the central government (‘first level’). Here, a carve-out from the overall group of connected persons is possible. However, entities A1, A2, B1 and B2 are only indirectly connected to the central government. A carve-out on their level is not possible (e.g., both A1 and A2 need to be included in the group ‘central government/A’): Scenario CG 4: “Horizontal connections” on the second level In a variation on the general scenario above, entities A and B are economically dependent (payment difficulties for B would be contagious to A): Assuming that the Development Bank uses the alternative approach only in part, as described in scenario CG 1 above, the following groups of connected persons need to be considered: Central Government A B C D A1 A2 B1 B2 Economic dependency
15 Establishing interconnectedness based on economic dependency Scenario E1: Main case The Development Bank has exposures to all entities shown below (A, B, C and D). B, C and D rely economically on A. Hence the underlying risk factor for the Development Bank is in all cases A. The Development Bank has to form one comprehensive group of connected persons, not three individual ones. It is irrelevant that there is no dependency among B, C and D. Scenario E2: Variation on main case (no direct exposure to source of risk) There is a grouping requirement even if the Development Bank does not have a direct exposure to A, but is aware of the economic dependency of each person (B, C and D) on A. If the possible payment difficulties for A are contagious to B, C and D, they will all experience payment difficulties if A gets into financial trouble. Therefore, they need to be treated as a single risk. As in scenario E 1, it does not matter that there is no dependency among B, C and D. A causes the grouping requirement, although it is not a client itself and thus is not part of the group of connected persons. Central Government A A1 A2 Central Government C B1 B2 B D A B A1 A2 B1 B2 Economic dependency A B C D A B C D
16 Scenario E3: Overlapping groups of connected persons If an entity is economically dependent on two or more other entities (note that the payment difficulties of one of the other entities (A or B) might be sufficient to result in C being in difficulty), it has to be included in the groups of connected persons of both (all such) entities: The argument that the exposure to C will be double-counted is not valid because the exposure to C is considered a single risk in two separate groups. The large exposure limit applies separately (i.e., the limit applies once to exposures to group A/C and once to exposures to group B/C). As there is no dependency between A and B, no comprehensive group (A + B + C) needs to be formed). Scenario E4: Chain of dependency In the case of a “chain of dependency”, all entities that are economically dependent (even if the dependency is only one way) need to be treated as one single risk. It would not be appropriate to form three individual groups (A + B, B + C, C + D). C A B C A C B C A B D
17 Scenario E5: The Development Bank as source of funding (no grouping requirements) In the following scenario, the Development Bank is the sole provider of funds for three clients. It is not an ‘external funding source’ that connects the three persons and it is a funding source that can normally be replaced. Relation between interconnectedness through control and interconnectedness through economic dependency Scenario C/E 1: Combined occurrence of control and economic dependency (one-way dependency) In the following scenario, the Development Bank has exposures to all entities shown in the diagram below. A controls A1 and A2, B controls B1. Furthermore, B1 is economically dependent on A2 (oneway dependency): Grouping requirement: In this scenario, the Development Bank should come to the conclusion that B1 is in any case to be included in the group of connected persons of A (the group thus consisting of A, A1, A2 and B1) as well as of B (the group thus consisting of B and B1):
In case of financial problems for A, A2 and ultimately B1 will also experience financial difficulties on account of their legal (A2) and economic (B1) dependency respectively. The forming of three different groups (A + A1 + A2, A1 + B1, B + B1) would not be sufficient to capture the risk stemming from A, because B1, although dependent on A2 and thus on A itself, would be carved out of the single risk of group A. A A1 A2 B B1 A A1 A2 B1 B B1 The Development bank A B C loans: Corporate/retail
18 Scenario C/E 2: Combined occurrence of control of one person over another and economic dependency (two-way dependency) In this scenario, the economic dependency of A2 and B1 is not only one way but mutual: Grouping requirement: A2 would need to be included additionally in group B, and B1 would need to be included additionally in group A: Scenario C/E 3: Downstream contagion In a variation on scenario C/E 1 above, B1 also controls two entities (B2 and B3). In this case, the financial difficulties of A will pass through A2 and B1 down to the two subsidiaries of B1 (“downstream contagion”). Grouping requirement: A A1 A2 B B1 A A1 A2 B2 B A2 B2 A A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 B B1 B2 B3 A A1 A2 B B1 B2 B3
19 Scenario C/E 4: Upstream contagion The control relationship between B and B1 does not automatically lead to including B in the group of connected persons of A, as financial problems for A are not likely to result in financial difficulties for B. However, the entity B is a parent company, it needs to be included in the group of A if B1 forms such an important part of group B that B is economically dependent on B1. In this case, the financial difficulties of A will proceed not only downwards but also upwards to B, causing payment difficulties for B (i.e., all entities now form a single risk). Grouping requirement: Control and management procedures for identifying connected persons Scenario Mm 1: Limits to the identification of a chain of contagion Further developing the scenario above (C/E 4), the Development Bank has exposures only to entity A and entity B3. In such a case, it is recognised that it might not be possible for the Development Bank to become aware of the chain of contagion and the group of connected persons might not be correctly formed. A A1 A2 B B1 B2 B3 A A1 A2 B B1 B2 B3
20 A A1 A2 B B1 B2 B3