EEA banking customers beware. If you don't ask, you don't get

What’s changing in the EEA banking markets?

The EU’s sixth Capital Requirements Directive (Directive 2024/1619, CRD VI) contains new, harmonized requirements for non-EEA banks and larger broker dealers (together, non-EEA banks) looking to provide so-called “core banking services” (deposits, loans and guarantees and commitments) into the EU and EEA.

From January 11, 2027, non-EEA banks will be prohibited from providing core banking services in the EEA unless they establish an authorized branch in each relevant member state, or an exemption applies.

The exemptions cover:

• interbank services (i.e., services provided to another credit institution)
• intragroup services
• services provided on the basis of reverse solicitation (when the service is provided “at the own exclusive initiative” of the customer).

Services which are ancillary to certain MiFID services and activities are also excluded. The scope of this carve-out is subject to debate, but beyond the scope of this note.

Although the prohibition does not come into effect until January 11, 2027, it also applies to contracts entered into or modified from July 11, 2026 (earlier contracts will be 'grandfathered') and so non-EEA banks’ sales practices will change in July.

The end of cross-border banking relationships?

In practice, the costs associated with establishing and maintaining a network of branches and/or the legal and practical difficulties of moving business lines into EEA subsidiaries, mean that such options are not in fact commercially viable for many banking groups. This means that many non-EEA banks may only be able to provide some or all of the core banking services they currently offer in the EEA where reverse solicitation is available.

What does this mean for an EEA customer looking to access core banking services from non-EEA banks?

To maintain access to banking services from as diversified a network of providers as possible, EEA customers will need to engage proactively to preserve their core banking relationships with, and obtain new core banking services from, non-EEA banks.

This means initiating requests for cross-border banking services from non-EEA banks. To help manage this administrative burden, we set out in the appendix to this briefing a simple, short-form example of a letter that could be used to solicit services from one or more non-EEA banks.

Sending this communication may help to provide evidence to non-EEA banks that you approached them without solicitation by them—this will hopefully provide additional comfort that they may rely on the reverse solicitation exemption compliantly to provide you with ongoing banking services. However, we note that many banks will also have the option to migrate your services to be provided by an EU bank within their group—this may be another route that your banks choose in order to provide you future services. If you are unsure what this new regime will mean for you and your existing services, you should proactively contact your relationship managers for more information as this may vary between institutions. 

Keep calm, write in and carry on

CRD VI is subject to national transposition and supervision and the scope of the exemptions, including reverse solicitation may be affected by future guidance or legislative change.

Non-EEA banks are currently preparing for implementation of the new requirements in the face of considerable uncertainty.

At the time of writing, most of the 30 EEA member states have not finalized the legislation needed to implement CRD VI. Navigating this uncertainty means that non-EEA banks must take their own risk-based decisions about the circumstances that permit them to continue to service the EEA banking market.

While in many cases, a non-EEA bank’s compliance policies and procedures will be satisfied by an unsolicited approach from an EEA borrower or depositor, the surrounding facts of a particular relationship may impact this. It remains to be seen what the impact of this new restriction will be on the depth, liquidity and costs of borrowing in the EEA and its impacts on productive finance and the competitiveness of the EEA’s banking markets.