EBA updates guidelines on connected clients to align with new EU legislation

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has decided to partially delete sections of its Guidelines on connected clients following the implementation of new, directly applicable EU legislation. These changes aim to maintain clarity, consistency, and alignment in how credit institutions identify groups of connected clients.

The decision reflects the application of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1728, which introduces binding technical standards developed by the EBA. These standards specify when institutions must identify groups of connected clients. Since these rules now apply directly across the EU, some provisions of the original EBA Guidelines are no longer necessary for consistent application of Union law, leading to their removal.

The Decision, along with a consolidated version of the Guidelines reflecting these deletions, is published on the EBA’s website.

The original Guidelines on connected clients (EBA/GL/2017/15) were adopted in 2017 to support the identification of connected client groups, including control relationships, economic dependency, and combined control and dependency.

The Decision is made pursuant to Articles 16(2a) and 29(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (the EBA Regulation), Article 4(4) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (the CRR), and Articles 1, 2, and 3 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1728.