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Article 6 - Indicative qualitative metrics

Article 6

Indicative qualitative metrics

1.   For the purposes of Article 1(5), second subparagraph, the indicative qualitative metrics shall be the following:

(a)

the number of tied agents compared to total staff;

(b)

the average duration of a wind-down in the jurisdiction, taking into consideration the complexity of the investment firm’s business;

(c)

the share of non-cancellable contracts and their residual duration;

(d)

the identification of markets where the investment firm is the main service provider;

(e)

the value and liquidity of fixed assets that the investment firm would have to dispose of during a wind-down;

(f)

the average severance payments payable in case of a wind-down, taking into consideration employment legislation and contracts with employees.

2.   For the purposes of Article 2, with regard to the measurement of the RtC, the indicative qualitative metrics shall be the following:

(a)

the amount of client money held over the preceding 5 years;

(b)

the amount of assets under management over the preceding 5 years;

(c)

the amount of assets safeguarded and administered for clients over the preceding 5 years;

(d)

the amount of losses or damages incurred by the investment firm due to breaches of its legal or contractual obligations over at least the preceding 5 years, including losses arising from the following:

(i)

unsuitable advice given to investors and related investors’ compensation;

(ii)

failure to establish, implement and maintain appropriate procedures to prevent breaches;

(iii)

trading or valuation errors;

(iv)

business disruption, system failures, failure of transaction processing or process management;

(v)

an action of the investment firm’s tied agents or appointed representatives for which the investment firm is liable;

(e)

specifically for investment firms holding client money, any inability of the investment firm to timely return client money when required and associated financial consequences over the past 5 years.

3.   For the purposes of Article 2, with regard to the measurement of the RtM, the indicative qualitative metrics shall be the following:

(a)

the variability of the value of the positions, including due to changing market conditions;

(b)

the share of complex and illiquid products in the investment firm’s trading book, in terms of volume and net income;

(c)

specifically for investment firms using internal models, the availability of regular back-testing of models used for regulatory purposes.

4.   For the purposes of Article 2, with regard to the measurement of the RtF, the indicative qualitative metrics shall be the following:

(a)

the daily trading flow and average daily trading flow over the preceding 5 years;

(b)

any significant operational events related to daily trading flow and associated financial losses over the preceding 5 years, including processing errors;

(c)

the variability of the investment firm’s income and revenues over the preceding 5 years;

(d)

any losses incurred due to variations in positions in financial instruments, foreign currencies and commodities over the preceding 5 years;

(e)

the default rate of clients or counterparties, and associated losses over the preceding 5 years;

(f)

any losses due to material changes in the book value of assets, including due to changes in market conditions and in the creditworthiness of counterparties;

(g)

the amounts and variability of payments or contributions under a defined benefit pension scheme over the preceding 5 years;

(h)

any concentration of the investment firm’s assets, including concentration of clients and counterparties, as well as sectoral and geographical concentration;

(i)

the share of off-balance sheet exposure compared to the investment total assets and related credit risk.

5.   For the purposes of Article 3, the indicative qualitative metrics shall be the following:

(a)

any indication of significant financial risks not addressed by the own funds requirements set out in Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2033, in particular:

(i)

the average of total operational risk losses over gross income over the preceding 5 years;

(ii)

any significant operational events and associated financial losses over the preceding 5 years;

(iii)

the share of the investment firm’s net income coming from services or activities that are not listed in Section A of Annex I to Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (5);

(b)

any indication of significant information and communication technology (ICT) risk, in particular:

(i)

the overall complexity of ICT architecture, including the share of outsourced ICT services;

(ii)

the number of material changes within the ICT environment over the preceding 5 years;

(iii)

any losses due to disruption caused by incidents affecting critical ICT services over the preceding 5 years;

(iv)

the number of cyberattacks and related losses over the preceding 5 years;

(c)

any indication of significant interest rate risk arising from non-trading book activities, in particular:

(i)

the volume of transactions based on interest rates or otherwise depending on interest rates, outside of the trading book of the investment firm;

(ii)

the investment firm’s hedging policy and potential misalignments between the position and the hedge, outside of the trading book of the investment firm.

6.   Competent authorities may extend the list of indicative qualitative metrics set out in paragraphs 1 to 5 while ensuring that such additional metrics are proportionate to the investment firm’s size, complexity, business model, and operating model.

7.   Competent authorities shall adjust the metrics set out in paragraphs 1 to 5 and shall use those adjusted metrics where any of the following conditions apply:

(a)

the metric is not appropriate given the specific legal form, structural changes, business and operating model of the investment firm;

(b)

the estimation of the metric is overly burdensome given the size and complexity of activities of the investment firm;

(c)

the estimation of the metric is not feasible due to the lack of reliable data, where such data do not fall under Articles 54 and 55 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 or Article 39(2), point (j), of Directive (EU) 2019/2034;

(d)

the estimation of the metric is not feasible due to the lack of reliable historical data, rendering the historical analysis period irrelevant. In such cases, competent authorities shall limit the period of historical analysis to the time that has elapsed since the last supervisory review and evaluation process set out in Article 36 of Directive (EU) 2019/2034.

Where it is not possible for competent authorities to adjust the metrics as referred to in the first subparagraph, competent authorities shall use alternative metrics as appropriate, while ensuring that such alternative metrics are proportionate to the investment firm’s size, complexity, business model, and operating model.


(5)  Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU (OJ L 173, 12.6.2014, p. 349).