General criteria

An activity should be identified as “ancillary to banking” when it either supports, complements or relies on the provision of any service or activity listed in Annex I, points 1 to 12 and points 15,16 and 17 to Directive 2013/36/EU and in Annex I, Section A or B to Directive 2014/65/EU, in relation to the financial instruments listed in Annex I, Section C to Directive 2014/65/EU, by an institution or financial institution (“supports, complements or relies on banking”).

For the purposes of assessing whether activities are ancillary to banking, based on the criteria set out in paragraph 15, the assessment should be:

• a. limited to the activities performed by undertakings that, when considered ASU, have to or may be subject to prudential consolidation in accordance with Articles 11 and 18 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and the criteria provided by Regulation (EU) 2022/676. This includes parent undertakings, subsidiaries, and joint arrangements, along with any other situations specified in paragraphs (3), (5), and points (a) and (b) of paragraph (6) of Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013; and
• b. performed taking into account the relevance of the link or connection of the activity to that of an institution or financial institution referred to in paragraph 15.

Supports banking

For the purposes of paragraph 15, an activity supports banking when it significantly improves the efficiency and effectiveness of banking processes or enables or facilitates the delivery of banking products and/or services to clients. The provision of such supporting services to other ASUs of the group should be considered indirect support.

Without prejudice to paragraph 17, the following should be seen as activities that support banking:

• a. operational support, such as process optimisation and infrastructure development and maintenance;
• b. customer relationship support, such as facilitation of the interaction between customers and the bank (e.g. customer service platforms);
• c. risk management and regulatory compliance support;
• d. strategic and competitive support, such as market research, big data analytics, innovation and digital transformation, or marketing activities;
• e. back-office and administrative support, such as human resources management or document management.

Complements banking

For the purposes of paragraph 15, an activity complements banking when:

• a. it allows an institution or financial institution of the group, by means of specific distribution and marketing channels, to expand the offer of its banking services and products to customers of the undertaking; or
• b. the non-banking services and products of the undertaking, by means of specific distribution and marketing channels, are offered and provided to the customer base of an institution or financial institution of the group.

The determination of whether an activity complements banking should rely on an objective and factual assessment and not be based on the abstract possibility of the institution or financial institution or the undertaking to offer its services and products to the same customer base.

Relies on banking

For the purposes of paragraph 15, an activity relies on banking when:

• a. it significantly relies on relevant banking products or services provided by an institution or a financial institution of the group to perform its activity (e.g. KYC, management of loan applications, credit risk assessment). In this regard, operational and personnel dependencies should be part of the assessment; or
• b. it significantly relies on funding provided by an institution or financial institution of the group to finance the provision of products or services that are part of its activity. Institutions should not only consider the financing received by the undertaking but also evaluate the existence of any explicit commitment to provide funding.