Article 207
Requirements for financial collateral
1.
Under all approaches and methods, financial collateral and gold shall qualify as eligible collateral where all the requirements laid down in paragraphs 2 to 4 are met.
2.
The credit quality of the obligor and the value of the collateral shall not have a material positive correlation. Where the value of the collateral is reduced significantly, this shall not alone imply a significant deterioration of the credit quality of the obligor. Where the credit quality of the obligor becomes critical, this shall not alone imply a significant reduction in the value of the collateral.
Securities issued by the obligor, or any related group entity, shall not qualify as eligible collateral. This notwithstanding, the obligor's own issues of covered bonds falling within the terms of Article 129 qualify as eligible collateral when they are posted as collateral for a repurchase transaction, provided that they comply with the condition set out in the first subparagraph.
3.
Institutions shall fulfil any contractual and statutory requirements in respect of, and take all steps necessary to ensure, the enforceability of the collateral arrangements under the law applicable to their interest in the collateral.
Institutions shall have conducted sufficient legal review confirming the enforceability of the collateral arrangements in all relevant jurisdictions. They shall re-conduct such review as necessary to ensure continuing enforceability.
4.
Institutions shall fulfil all the following operational requirements:
(a)
they shall properly document the collateral arrangements and have in place clear and robust procedures for the timely liquidation of collateral;
(b)
they shall use robust procedures and processes to control risks arising from the use of collateral, including risks of failed or reduced credit protection, valuation risks, risks associated with the termination of the credit protection, concentration risk arising from the use of collateral and the interaction with the institution's overall risk profile;
(c)
they shall have in place documented policies and practices concerning the types and amounts of collateral accepted;
(d)
they shall calculate the market value of the collateral, and revalue it accordingly, at least once every six months and whenever they have reason to believe that a significant decrease in the market value of the collateral has occurred;
(e)
where the collateral is held by a third party, they shall take reasonable steps to ensure that the third party segregates the collateral from its own assets;
(f)
they shall ensure that they devote sufficient resources to the orderly operation of margin agreements with OTC derivatives and securities-financing counterparties, as measured by the timeliness and accuracy of their outgoing margin calls and response time to incoming margin calls;
(g)
they shall have in place collateral management policies to control, monitor and report the following:
(i)
the risks to which margin agreements expose them;
(ii)
the concentration risk to particular types of collateral assets;
(iii)
the reuse of collateral including the potential liquidity shortfalls resulting from the reuse of collateral received from counterparties;
(iv)
the surrender of rights on collateral posted to counterparties.
5.
In addition to meeting all the requirements set out in paragraphs 2 to 4, for financial collateral to qualify as eligible collateral under the Financial Collateral Simple Method the residual maturity of the protection shall be at least as long as the residual maturity of the exposure.