Article 493
Transitional provisions for large exposures
1.
Until 26 June 2021, the provisions on large exposures as laid down in Articles 387 to 403 of this Regulation shall not apply to investment firms, the main business of which consists exclusively of the provision of investment services or activities in relation to the financial instruments set out in points (5), (6), (7), (9), (10) and (11) of Section C of Annex I to Directive 2014/65/EU and to which Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (
38
) did not apply on 31 December 2006.
3.
By way of derogation from Article 400(2) and (3), Member States may, for a transitional period until the entry into force of any legal act following the review in accordance with Article 507, but not after 31 December 2028, fully or partially exempt the following exposures from the application of Article 395(1):
(a)
covered bonds as referred to in Article 129;
(b)
asset items constituting claims on regional governments or local authorities of Member States where those claims would be assigned a 20 % risk weight under Part Three, Title II, Chapter 2 and other exposures to or guaranteed by those regional governments or local authorities, claims on which would be assigned a 20 % risk weight under Part Three, Title II, Chapter 2;
(c)
exposures, including participations or other kinds of holdings, incurred by an institution to its parent undertaking, to other subsidiaries of that parent undertaking or to its own subsidiaries and qualifying holdings, in so far as those undertakings are covered by the supervision on a consolidated basis to which the institution itself is subject, in accordance with this Regulation, Directive 2002/87/EC or with equivalent standards in force in a third country; exposures that do not meet those criteria, whether or not exempted from Article 395(1) of this Regulation, shall be treated as exposures to a third party;
(d)
asset items constituting claims on and other exposures, including participations or other kinds of holdings, to regional or central credit institutions with which the credit institution belongs to a network in accordance with legal or statutory provisions and which are responsible, under those provisions, for cash-clearing operations within the network;
(e)
asset items constituting claims on and other exposures to credit institutions incurred by credit institutions, one of which operates on a non-competitive basis and provides or guarantees loans under legislative programmes or its statutes, to promote specified sectors of the economy under some form of government oversight and restrictions on the use of the loans, provided that the respective exposures arise from such loans that are passed on to the beneficiaries via credit institutions or from the guarantees of these loans;
(f)
asset items constituting claims on and other exposures to institutions, provided that those exposures do not constitute such institutions' own funds, do not last longer than the following business day and are not denominated in a major trading currency;
(g)
asset items constituting claims on central banks in the form of required minimum reserves held at those central banks which are denominated in their national currencies;
(h)
asset items constituting claims on central governments in the form of statutory liquidity requirements held in government securities which are denominated and funded in their national currencies provided that, at the discretion of the competent authority, the credit assessment of those central governments assigned by a nominated ECAI is investment grade;
(i)
50 % of medium/low risk off-balance sheet documentary credits and of medium/low risk off-balance sheet undrawn credit facilities referred to in Annex I and subject to the competent authorities' agreement, 80 % of guarantees other than loan guarantees which have a legal or regulatory basis and are given for their members by mutual guarantee schemes possessing the status of credit institutions;
(j)
legally required guarantees used when a mortgage loan financed by issuing mortgage bonds is paid to the mortgage borrower before the final registration of the mortgage in the land register, provided that the guarantee is not used as reducing the risk in calculating the risk- weighted exposure amounts;
(k)
assets items constituting claims on and other exposures to recognised exchanges.
4.
By way of derogation from Article 395(1), competent authorities may allow institutions to incur any of the exposures provided for in paragraph 5 of this Article meeting the conditions set out in paragraph 6 of this Article, up to the following limits:
(a)
100 % of the institution’s Tier 1 capital until 31 December 2018;
(b)
75 % of the institution’s Tier 1 capital until 31 December 2019;
(c)
50 % of the institution’s Tier 1 capital until 31 December 2020.
The limits referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of the first subparagraph shall apply to exposure values after taking into account the effect of the credit risk mitigation in accordance with Articles 399 to 403.
5.
The transitional arrangements set out in paragraph 4 shall apply to the following exposures:
(a)
asset items constituting claims on central governments, central banks, or public sector entities of Member States;
(b)
asset items constituting claims expressly guaranteed by central governments, central banks, or public sector entities of Member States;
(c)
other exposures to, or guaranteed by, central governments, central banks, or public sector entities of Member States;
(d)
asset items constituting claims on regional governments or local authorities of Member States treated as exposures to a central government in accordance with Article 115(2);
For the purposes of points (a), (b) and (c) of the first subparagraph, the transitional arrangements set out in paragraph 4 of this Article shall apply only to asset items and other exposures to, or guaranteed by, public sector entities which are treated as exposures to a central government, a regional government or a local authority in accordance with Article 116(4). Where asset items and other exposures to, or guaranteed by, public sector entities are treated as exposures to a regional government or a local authority in accordance with Article 116(4), the transitional arrangements set out in paragraph 4 of this Article shall apply only where exposures to that regional government or local authority are treated as exposures to a central government in accordance with Article 115(2).
6.
The transitional arrangements set out in paragraph 4 of this Article shall apply only where an exposure referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article meets all of the following conditions:
(a)
the exposure would be assigned a risk weight of 0 % in accordance with the version of Article 495(2) in force on 31 December 2017;
(b)
the exposure was incurred on or after 12 December 2017.
7.
An exposure as referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article incurred before 12 December 2017 to which a risk weight of 0 % was assigned on 31 December 2017 in accordance with Article 495(2) shall be exempted from the application of Article 395(1).
( 38 ) Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments amending Council Directives 85/611/EEC and 93/6/EEC and Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 93/22/EEC (OJ L 145, 30.4.2004, p. 1).