ECB Finalizes General Guide and FinTech Guide on Bank Licensing Applications

On March 23, the European Central Bank (ECB) published two guides (together, Guides):

• a guide to assessing license applications (General Licence Application Guide) which covers the general application process and the assessment requirements regarding, for example, governance, risk management, capital; and
• a guide to assessing financial technology (FinTech) credit institution license applications (FinTech Licence Application Guide)—intended to complement the General Licence Application Guide with a focus on FinTech entities that are considering an application for a banking license.

In September 2017, the ECB published drafts of the Guides for public consultation—the ECB’s response to the public consultation is set out in a feedback statement.

The Guides do not have legal effect; however, according to the feedback statement, their aim is to ensure “consistency in the implementation of the licensing assessment criteria in order to achieve common supervisory practices and increase transparency.”

The General Licence Application Guide is available here.

The FinTech Licence Application Guide is available here.

The feedback statement is available here.