On 9 January 2026, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a report on prudential consolidation and the final guidelines on ancillary services undertakings (ASU) under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR).

The EBA has prepared the report in accordance with the mandate given to it under Article 18(10) of the CRR, which mandates the European Supervisory Authority to submit a report to the European Commission on the completeness and appropriateness of the definitions and provisions of the Regulation. The EBA has prepared the guidelines according to the mandate given to it under Article 4(5) of the CRR, which mandates the EBA to specify the criteria for the identification of activities referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph, point (18) of this Article.

The report on prudential consolidation puts forward targeted recommendations that may support the Commission in considering further legislative adjustments to the EU regulatory framework. It also clarifies several areas where recent EBA investigations have identified implementation challenges across EU institutions. The guidelines on ASU set out criteria for identifying activities falling within the definition of ancillary services undertakings under Article 4(1)(18) of the CRR, namely: (a) activities considered a “direct extension of banking”, (b) activities “ancillary to banking”, and (c) “other similar activities”.