The ECB IT Risk Questionnaire (ITRQ) is where a significant institution puts a number on its own ICT risk before its Joint Supervisory Team does. Every bank under direct ECB supervision completes the workbook once a year, scoring its inherent ICT risk and the maturity of the controls that mitigate it. The 2026 questionnaire covers…
On 27 August 2026 the CSSF issued Circular CSSF 26/915, applicable with immediate effect, to bring specified third-country branches into the CSSF circular framework for DORA. For Luxembourg purposes, the governing scope is the branch perimeter set out in Circular CSSF 26/915 and in each amended circular; the change is not a blanket head-office-only test…
On 26 August 2026 the European Banking Authority opened a four-month consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards that will spell out, article by article, the operational risk management framework every institution subject to the Capital Requirements Regulation has to run. The mandate sits in Article 323(2) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (the CRR), as amended…
On 25 August 2026 the European Banking Authority opened a three-month consultation on the mechanics of investment firm reclassification into credit institutions. Meeting an Article 8a(1) threshold triggers an application for credit institution authorisation; it does not itself complete the reclassification, and Article 8a(2) CRD permits the undertaking to continue the relevant activities until authorisation…
For payment card schemes within Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2015/751, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/72, in force since 7 February 2018, specifies the card scheme processing separation requirements: the accounting, organisational and decision-making independence applying between schemes and processing entities. Article 7 does not apply to three-party payment card schemes unless the scheme is…
On 24 August 2026 the European Commission published guidance on CBAM verification and accreditation for verifiers and National Accreditation Bodies, and on the same day it released the procedure that lets verifiers into the CBAM Registry from 1 September 2026. The guidance is written for the people who accredit and perform verification, but the calendar…
On 19 August 2026 the Eurosystem named 61 financial market stakeholders and public sector institutions to the Appia contact group, the standing forum that will now shape how central bank money settles tokenised assets in Europe. The seats were filled from a call for expressions of interest issued on 1 June 2026, and the group…
On 6 August 2026 the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) opened a voluntary survey asking electronic money institutions (EMIs) and payment service providers (PSPs) about their experience with the central contact point framework, and the window closes on 15 September 2026. The CSSF relayed the exercise to the Luxembourg…
ESMA opened a consultation on 18 August 2026 on the technical standards that turn EMIR Article 7d into a working return, and comments close on 12 October 2026. Article 7d, added to EMIR by Regulation (EU) 2024/2987 (EMIR 3), requires clearing members and clients that clear contracts through a central counterparty recognised under Article 25…
On 18 August 2026 the European Central Bank asked a narrow slice of the technology industry a very specific question: are the secure-hardware standards behind the offline digital euro mature enough, and does the market support them? The call for expression of interest, published through the ECB’s market infrastructure and payments news channel, gives interested…