7.1 General criteria

The competent authorities’ assessment of the business plan should be based on the relevant documents and information submitted by the applicant credit institution, in particular pursuant to Article 4, letters (a) to (h), and Article 5(1)(a) of the RTS on information for authorisation , focus on the applicant credit institution’s business model, strategy and risk profile, and aim to form a view on the viability and sustainability of its business model and its capacity to comply with prudential requirements within the planning horizon.

Consistently with paragraph 13, competent authorities should assess the exposure to ML/FT risks resulting from the applicant credit institution’s business plan. For this purpose, competent authorities should in particular assess whether the sectors, activities, products, target customers, geography and distribution channels present a higher level of ML/TF risk.

Consistently with the principles set out in paragraphs 15 and 16, competent authorities should refrain from indicating preferences for specific business models and be neutral as to the business needs of their jurisdiction.

Competent authorities should calibrate the intensity of their assessment in light of the proportionality criteria set out in paragraph 18.

As a general criterion, competent authorities should perform the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the business plan based on their expert judgment. To ensure equal treatment and internal consistency, expert judgment should be based on the criteria and the methodology laid down in these Guidelines, and in particular in this section 7.

Without prejudice to paragraph 71, in order to support the business plan assessment and to the extent that is appropriate and feasible, competent authorities may also conduct a peer comparison in accordance with the criteria laid down in paragraph 99.

To ensure supervisory continuity between the authorisation phase and ongoing supervision of the applicant credit institution, the analysis and the outcome of the assessment of the business plan performed for the purposes of the authorisation should be shared within the competent authority, including for the purpose of monitoring any mitigation measure, in the form of conditions precedent, obligations subsequent or restrictions as referred to in section 4.2, paragraphs 25–32, that the competent authority may have applied in the context of the assessment for granting the authorisation.