EBA streamlines its Guidelines on connected clients to align with new EU legislation
Tag: S-2026-04-29-eba-connected-clients Type: report (press release announcing a Decision + consolidated Guidelines) Author(s): European Banking Authority Date of source: 2026-04-29 (press release / publication date) Date ingested: 2026-06-08 Authority weight: high — primary EU prudential standard-setter publishing a binding Decision on its own Guidelines. Raw file: S-2026-04-29-eba-connected-clients.md. External URL: https://www.eba.europa.eu/publications-and-media/press-releases/eba-streamlines-its-guidelines-connected-clients-align-new-eu-legislation
What it claims
On 29 April 2026 the EBA published a Decision, together with a consolidated version of its Guidelines on connected clients (EBA/GL/2017/15), partially deleting sections of those Guidelines following the entry into force of new, directly-applicable EU legislation [S-2026-04-29-eba-connected-clients]. The trigger is Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1728, which introduces binding regulatory technical standards — developed by the EBA — setting out the circumstances in which institutions must identify groups of connected clients. Because those RTS now apply directly across the EU, the EBA judges that certain provisions of the 2017 Guidelines are no longer necessary to ensure common and consistent application of Union law and has removed them. The stated purpose is to ensure “continued clarity, consistency and alignment” in the framework credit institutions use to identify groups of connected clients, which (per the original 2017 Guidelines) covers control relationships, economic dependency, and combined control and economic dependency. The Decision is adopted under Articles 16(2a) and 29(1)(d) of the EBA Regulation (1093/2010), Article 4(4) of the CRR (575/2013), and Articles 1–3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1728. The topic area is large exposures.
Notable quotes
“The European Banking Authority (EBA) has decided to partially delete sections of its Guidelines on connected clients, following the entry into force of new, directly applicable EU legislation.” — EBA press release, 29 April 2026
“As these rules now apply directly across the EU, certain provisions of the EBA Guidelines are no longer necessary to ensure a common and consistent application of Union law and have therefore been removed.” — EBA press release, 29 April 2026
What’s speculative vs. asserted
- Asserted: the 29 April 2026 publication of the Decision and consolidated Guidelines; the partial deletion of provisions; the legal trigger (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1728 RTS); the legal bases cited; the scope (identification of groups of connected clients for large-exposures purposes).
- Not stated / not retrieved: the specific provisions deleted (the Decision and consolidated PDF were not retrieved this run); any implementation date or transitional arrangement; any direct AI relevance (none claimed by the source).
Topics this feeds
- EBA Supervisory Direction on AI and Governance — as a further item of EBA supervisory direction reshaping the data-identification/credit-risk substrate.
- EBA — European Banking Authority — entity tracked change.
Open questions raised
- Which specific provisions of EBA/GL/2017/15 were deleted, and do any firms currently rely on the deleted guidance text rather than the RTS?
- What re-baselining of connected-clients identification logic and large-exposures data/control evidence does the shift from guidance to directly-applicable RTS require in practice?
Ingestion note
Press release and publications listing fetched directly and in full; the Decision and Consolidated Guidelines PDFs were linked but not retrieved — confirm the deleted provisions against the consolidated text before relying on this page for client deliverables. Selected as the most recent NEW (uncaptured) item on the EBA publications listing as fetched this run (which topped out at 29–30 April 2026); newer EBA items already in the wiki post-date that listing snapshot, so this is not necessarily the EBA’s single newest output overall. Relevance is to data governance / large-exposures identification and regulatory readiness, not to AI specifically.