ECB calls out bank’s lack of climate risks transparency

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published its third assessment of the progress European banks have made in disclosing climate and environmental risks, calling for action from the banks’ side in a statement on Friday.

Although banks have in the past year increased the information they publish, the quality of their disclosures is still too low to meet upcoming supervisory standards.

The largest European banks generally have better disclosures than their non-EU based counterparts, but they nonetheless fail to fully meet ECB expectations.

European banks must prepare to comply with tighter EU rules on disclosures of climate and environmental risks that take effect this year.

The implementing technical standards (ITS) on Pillar 3 disclosures, a set of reporting standards on environmental, social and governance risks issued by the European Banking Authority (EBA), will apply to most significant banks in the euro area.

Eligible banks have to make their first disclosures under the new rules by the end of June 2023, said the ECB.

“We acknowledge that banks have been making progress, but further improvements are urgently needed, stricter disclosure rules are taking effect this year,” said Frank Elderson, Vice-Chair of the ECB’s Supervisory Board.

Elderson added “if necessary, we will take the appropriate supervisory actions to ensure that banks comply.”

Compared with last year’s assessment, banks have significantly increased the amount of basic information that they disclose across categories.

The percentage of significant banks disclosing material exposures to climate and environmental risks rose from 36 percent to 86 percent, data released by the ECB shows.

Nearly all banks now state how their board oversees climate and environmental risks, and over 90 percent provide basic descriptions on how they identify, assess and manage these risks.

Of the significant banks in the exercise, only 6 percent disclose at least broadly adequate information in all five categories of the assessment, the ECB added.

While 50 percent of the banks now provide some information on the amount of emissions they finance, in the vast majority of cases this information is incomplete, unspecific or not properly substantiated.

As a result, banks appear largely unprepared for the impending EBA standards on Pillar 3 disclosures.

The ECB also for the first time compared the climate and environmental risk disclosures of the largest EU-based banks with their non-EU based counterparts.

The assessment shows that while EU-based G-SIBs are not yet fully aligned with supervisory expectations, they generally outperform their global peers in all assessment categories.

Supervisors have informed banks of their findings, requesting them to address shortcomings and to provide plans on how they will prepare to meet the impending EBA reporting standards.

The ECB’s assessment report includes multiple examples of good practices that banks can consider in their efforts to align disclosures with supervisory expectations.

In the second half of 2023, the ECB will review whether the eligible banks fulfil the new standards. Non-compliance will constitute a breach of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and result in supervisory action.