On 7 July 2026, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a Final Report setting out draft guidelines on the authorisation of third country branches (TCBs) in accordance with Article 48c(8) of the Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) (as amended by Directive (EU) 2024/1619 (CRD VI)).
Background
The CRD VI, amending the CRD IV, establishes a new regime for branches in the EU of third country credit institutions operating in the EU. It introduces a minimum harmonisation framework covering authorisation, prudential requirements – including booking arrangements, capital endowment, liquidity, internal governance, common reporting requirements and supervisory practices.
The EBA has developed the draft guidelines in accordance with Article 48c(8) of the CRD IV (as amended by CRD VI), which mandates the EBA to lay down the list of information, the assessment and the process applicable to the application, as well as forms and template to be used in the context of the application. Furthermore, the draft guidelines must clarify the conditions under which information submitted by the applicant in prior authorisation procedures for the establishment of TCBs may be relied upon by the Member State competent authority (NCA).
The Final Report follows a consultation on the draft guidelines that the EBA ran between 3 November 2025 to 3 February 2026.
Guidelines
The draft guidelines are addressed to NCAs. They specify the information to be provided to NCAs upon application for authorisation of a TCB including with regard to its programme of operations, organisational structure and risk management, as well as the standard forms and templates for the provision of that information, the procedure and the conditions for such authorisation, and the conditions under which NCAs may rely on information that has already been provided in the process of any prior TCB authorisation, in accordance with the mandate set out in Article 48c(8) the CRD IV (as amended by CRD VI).
Whilst the authorisation has a territorial scope, the CRD IV (as amended by CRD VI) envisages two exceptions of provision of services cross-border: (i) intragroup funding arrangements with TCBs belonging to the same head
undertaking and (ii) reverse solicitation. As for point (i), the draft guidelines specify that the NCA should verify that planned cross-border intragroup funding arrangements are within the limits of the exception set out in Article 48c(4), point (d) CRD IV (as amended by CRD VI) and do not disguise cross-border business activities in breach of the territorial scope of the authorisation. As to point (ii), the draft guidelines specify that at authorisation, given that the TCB does not yet exist and cannot be solicited upon the exclusive initiative of clients or counterparties, the financial forecasts contained in the business plan cannot contain forecast about activities to be provided upon reverse solicitation.
Next steps
The draft guidelines will be translated into the official EU languages and published on the EBA website. The deadline for Member State competent authorities to report whether they comply with the draft guidelines will be two months after the publication of the translations. The draft guidelines will apply from 11 January 2027.