[author: Stephen Hancock]

On August 6, the EBA published feedback following a review of the use, usefulness and implementation of its single rulebook Q&A.

The review was carried out in the second half of 2018 using questionnaires addressed to competent authorities and selected industry representatives. It was limited to Q&A relating to the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) ((EU) No 575/2013) and the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) (2013/36/EU), which (at the time) accounted for about one third of final Q&A.

The EBA’s main findings include the following:

• There are limited cases of non-application of Q&A identified by survey participants.
• Competent authorities and institutions (to a slightly lesser extent) are, overall, satisfied with the utility of the single rulebook Q&A tool and the answers. However, they suggest various improvements relating to matters including response times, the search function and the presentation of the final answers.
• There are similarities in terms of the measures taken by competent authorities at the institution level or by institutions internally to promote the Q&A tool and the use of answers.
• Competent authorities use regular or ad hoc measures to encourage the use of the Q&A tool internally.

Based on its review, the EBA has provided non-prescriptive good practice guidance that institutions could adopt with respect to the use of Q&A (see chapter 4).

In addition, the EBA will consider the comments and suggestions received on the process, tool and answers, with a view to developing realistic and workable proposals for improvements. The EBA is also considering the reported cases of non-application in more detail to better understand the obstacles and issues in relation to the Q&A. It expects follow-up actions to be limited to informal exchanges and ad hoc queries to relevant competent authorities.