Banca d'Italia Identifies O-SIIs and Sets Capital Buffer Requirements
Summary
Banca d'Italia has identified additional Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SIIs) and set new capital buffer requirements. BPER Banca and Monte dei Paschi di Siena will be subject to a 0.50% buffer starting April 1, 2026, in addition to previously identified institutions.
What changed
Banca d'Italia has identified BPER Banca and Monte dei Paschi di Siena as new Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SIIs) requiring specific capital buffers. These institutions, in their new configurations, will need to maintain an O-SII buffer of 0.50% of their total risk-weighted exposures starting April 1, 2026. This action follows an update to the identification procedure that could not initially account for recent consolidation operations. The decision is based on Banca d'Italia's Circular No. 285/2013 and European Banking Authority guidelines, assessing factors such as size, importance, complexity, and interconnectedness.
Affected banking groups must ensure compliance with the new capital buffer requirements by the specified effective date. The identification and buffer levels will be reviewed annually. Failure to comply with these capital requirements could lead to supervisory actions by Banca d'Italia, potentially impacting the institutions' operational capacity and regulatory standing. Compliance officers should verify that the new buffer percentages are integrated into their risk management and capital planning processes.
What to do next
- Ensure compliance with the 0.50% O-SII capital buffer for BPER Banca and Monte dei Paschi di Siena starting April 1, 2026.
- Integrate new capital buffer requirements into risk management and capital planning processes.
- Monitor annual reviews of O-SII identification and buffer levels.
Source document (simplified)
Media Relations Division – Banca d’Italia e-mail: stampabi@bancaditalia.it Press Release By the Communications Directorate Rome, 27 February 2026 Identification of other systemically important institutions authorized to operate in Italy In its statement issued last November, and based on data as of the end of 2024, Banca d’Italia identified the banking groups Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Banco BPM, ICCREA and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro as Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SIIs) authorized to operate in Italy. Starting from January 1, 2026, Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Banco BPM, ICCREA and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro are required to hold an O-SII capital buffer equal to 1.25, 1.25, 0.50, 0.25 and 0.25 per cent respectively of their total risk-weighted exposures. The identification procedure conducted last November was unable to consider the consolidation operations carried out last year involving the BPER Banca and Banca Popolare di Sondrio groups, as well as the Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Mediobanca groups, since the related identification procedure had been initiated before these transactions were completed. Once the aforementioned transactions had been completed, Banca d’Italia initiated a new procedure concerning the BPER Banca and Monte dei Paschi di Siena groups in their new forms. Both groups have been identified as O-SIIs authorized to operate in Italy and, starting from April 1 2026, they will be required to maintain an O-SII buffer equal to 0.50 per cent of their total risk-weighted exposures (see Table 1). Table 1 O-SII buffers (per cent) Banking group From 1 Jan. 2026 From 1 Apr. 2026 INTESA SANPAOLO 1.25 1.25 UNICREDIT 1.25 1.25 MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA 0.00 0.50 BANCO BPM 0.50 0.50 BPER 0.25 0.50 ICCREA 0.25 0.25 BANCA NAZIONALE DEL LAVORO 0.25 0.25 The decision on the O-SII buffers was taken pursuant to Banca d’Italia’s Circular No. 285/2013 (prudential regulations for banks), which implements Directive 2013/36/EU and specifies the criteria on which the methodology for identifying O-SIIs is based. The assessment was conducted in accordance with the European Banking Authority Guidelines (EBA/GL/2014/10), which set out the criteria and data required to identify O-SIIs in EU Member States. The assessment covered all banking groups and stand-alone banks operating in Italy. For each bank/banking group, the identification considered the four categories established by the EBA guidelines, i.e. size, importance for the Italian economy, complexity and interconnectedness with the financial system.
Media Relations Division – Banca d’Italia e-mail: stampabi@bancaditalia.it The overall score indicating the national systemic importance of Monte dei Paschi di Siena and BPER Banca, in their new configuration, exceeds the threshold of 300 basis points (bps) used by Banca d’Italia (see Table 2). Table 2 Overall and category scores as at 30 September 2025 (basis points) Banking group Overall score Size Importance Complexity Interconnectedness MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA 680 729 536 641 815 BPER BANCA To support the calibration of the O-SII buffer, an eight-bucket scheme of systemic importance is used; each bucket is associated with a higher buffer (see Table 3). Table 3 Categories of systemic importance (basis points and per cent) Bucket O-SII score interval O-SII buffer 8 5,000 and more 3.00 [4,000-4,999] 2.00 [3,000-3,999] 1.50 [2,000-2,999] 1.25 [1,200-1,999] 1.00 [800-1,199] 0.75 [400-799] 0.50 [300-399] 0.25 Pursuant to the regulations, the decisions on identifying O-SIIs and on the level of the O-SII buffers will be reviewed at least once a year.
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