The EBA has completed and submitted draft amendments governing banking-type ancillary services between central securities depositories. CSDR Refit permits a banking CSD to supply cash and foreign-exchange payment services to another CSD and its participants; the October draft adapts the prudential controls to the exposures created by that arrangement.[1]
The EBA’s status page lists the draft as not yet applicable and gives no application date. Commission action, publication and the stated application arrangements will determine when the amended standards become operative.[2][1]
The policy objective is to give non-banking CSDs better access to foreign-currency settlement without turning a new link between infrastructures into an unmanaged source of credit, liquidity or intraday risk. The EBA therefore focuses on the effect of the arrangement on the banking CSD’s risk profile and on the information supervisors need.[1][3]
The arrangement separates securities settlement from cash provision
Roles in a cross-CSD cash arrangement
| Participant | Role | Principal risk question |
|---|---|---|
| Designating CSD | Operates the securities settlement system that needs external cash services. | How dependencies on another institution affect settlement continuity and participant access.Source 3Source 1 |
| Banking CSD or designated credit institution | Provides cash accounts, deposits, payment and FX services. | How it monitors and controls credit, liquidity and intraday exposures created by the added service.Source 1Source 3 |
| Participant of the designating CSD | Uses the cash service to settle the money leg, potentially in a foreign currency. | Legal onboarding, account structure, funding and information flows across the two infrastructures.Source 3 |
What the October draft changes
| Measure | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Risk framework | Credit and liquidity controls, including intraday risk | Article 59(5) of CSDR requires tools for monitoring, measuring, managing, reporting and publicly disclosing the relevant risks.Source 1 |
| Interconnectedness | Explicit prudential treatment of the new cross-CSD service | The EBA says the amendments are designed to prevent greater CSD interconnectedness from raising systemic risk.Source 1 |
| Supervisory information | Notifications for the competent authorities | The final draft identifies the information supervisors need about the arrangement and its risk-profile effect.Source 1 |
| Legal alignment | Updated CRR and CSDR references | The amendments also align the RTS with later legislation.Source 1 |
The service can be operationally narrower than a full correspondent-banking relationship. The consultation described a banking CSD offering cash accounts directly to participants of another CSD for payments in currencies other than the currency of the designating CSD’s home jurisdiction. The final standard therefore concentrates on the incremental risk created by that link.[3][1]
The link connects two operational responsibilities. The designating CSD needs reliable cash services for its securities-settlement process, while the provider needs to measure the additional credit and liquidity exposure, including intraday peaks. Notifications give the relevant supervisors information about that change in risk profile and its control framework.[1][3]
The activity thresholds are a separate part of CSDR Refit
In December 2025 the EBA also finalised a different set of draft standards governing the level of foreign-currency settlement activity at which non-banking CSDs and designated institutions face additional prudential requirements. Those thresholds are part of the same CSDR Refit architecture but are not the October amendments themselves.[4][5][1]
The separate activity thresholds
| Level | Annual settlement volume test | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | €3.75bn and 1.5% | Starting point for the risk-sensitive threshold framework.Source 4 |
| Maximum | €6.25bn and 2.5% | Upper point identified in the final draft threshold standard.Source 4 |
| Between the levels | Dynamic requirements | The calibration increases prudential and risk-management expectations as activity and risk rise.Source 4 |
The distinction is between the scale at which the separate threshold framework increases prudential expectations and the controls governing the cross-CSD service itself. Reading both workstreams together helps an infrastructure assess its activity and resulting risks without treating the December threshold calibration as a newly introduced October limit.[4][1][5]
Sources & further reading
- EBA final report on prudential requirements for CSD banking-type ancillary services European Banking Authority · 12 Oct 2026 · Accessed 16 Oct 2026
- RTS on prudential requirements for CSDs: current status European Banking Authority · Accessed 16 Oct 2026
- Consultation on CSD prudential amendments under CSDR Refit European Banking Authority · 3 Dec 2025 · Accessed 16 Oct 2026
- Final draft RTS on thresholds for CSD banking-type ancillary services European Banking Authority · 16 Dec 2025 · Accessed 16 Oct 2026
- Threshold RTS for CSD banking-type ancillary services: current status European Banking Authority · Accessed 16 Oct 2026