On 24 October 2025, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a consultation paper proposing updates to its guidelines on common procedures and methodologies for the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP) and supervisory stress testing. The guidelines are addressed to Member State competent authorities.

Background

The first version of the guidelines was published in 2014 (and entered into force 1 January 2016), while a subsequent upgrade was published in 2018 as part of the EBA’s Pillar 2 Roadmap to incorporate Pillar 2 guidance (P2G) and supervisory stress test elements (and applied since 1 January 2019). The last update was carried out in 2021 to account for the changes brought by the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) V, which included provisions with regards to, inter alia, the introduction of the assessment of the risk of excessive leverage, the revision of the methodology for the P2G determination and the cooperation with anti-money laundering / countering the financing of terrorism supervisors (applicable from 1 January 2023).

Changes

The changes proposed in the consultation paper seek alignment with regulatory developments that took place since the guideline’s last revision. In particular, they take into account changes stemming from the CRD VI and Capital Requirements Regulation III and the Digital Operational Resilience Act as well as the issuance by the EBA of other relevant guidelines and technical standards. At the same time, the proposals take stock of nearly ten years of SREP implementation, dedicated peer reviews and lessons from past financial market turmoil which have highlighted areas where the SREP framework can be further streamlined and improved.

The revised guidelines will also fulfil, when finalised, the mandates under Article 48n(6) of the CRD VI to issue guidelines on the SREP for third-country branches, and under Article 104a(7) of the same Directive to issue guidelines to operationalise the requirements where an institution becomes bound by the output floor.

Next steps

The deadline for comments on the consultation paper is 26 January 2026.

The EBA will hold a virtual public hearing on 4 December 2025 from 10:00 to 12:00 Paris time. The EBA invites interested stakeholders to register by 1 December (16:00 CET).

Upon the publication of the final revised guidelines, the existing SREP guidelines and the guidelines on ICT risk assessment under the SREP will be repealed and replaced. The revised guidelines are expected to apply from 1 January 2027.