On 20 January 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a consultation on a draft ECB guideline that specifies how Member State national competent authorities (NCAs) shall exercise the discretion conferred on them under Article 178(2)(d) of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) in relation to less significant institutions with regard to the threshold for assessing the materiality of credit obligations past due, irrespective of the method used for the calculation of their risk-weighted exposure amounts.

The deadline for comments on the consultation is 17 February 2020.

The draft guideline provides that NCAs shall ensure that less significant institutions notify them of the exact date on which they will commence applying the threshold no later than 31 December 2020.