ECB floor methodology for setting the capital buffer for an identified Other Systemically Important Institution (O-SII)

This article describes the ECB floor methodology for setting the O-SII capital buffer that each identified O-SII is required to maintain. This methodology forms part of the analysis which the ECB conducts when assessing the O-SII buffers set by national authorities in the SSM area. The ECB O-SII floor methodology is based on banks’ systemic importance score and allocates each bank to one of four categories of systemic importance (“buckets”), whereby each bucket is associated with a specific O-SII buffer rate that should be considered as a floor. This floor buffer rate forms the basis of a discussion between the ECB and national authorities on the overall assessment of an O-SII buffer, taking into account the information provided by national authorities and national specificities. At the same time, the ECB O-SII methodology provides input to national authorities, informs them about possible outliers relative to their peers within the SSM and fosters a discussion of the possible need for corrective policy actions. JEL Classification: G00