EN ECB-PUBLIC 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 30 August 2016 
on amendments to the minimum reserves regime 
(CON/2016/40) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 29 July 2016 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a României 
(BNR) for an opinion on a draft regulation amending the BNR Regulation on the minimum reserves 
regime (hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third indent of Articles 2(1), and Article 2(2) of Council Decision 98/415/EC
1, as the draft regulation relates to a national central bank and instruments of 
monetary policy in a Member State whose currency is not the euro. In accordance with the first sentence 
of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft regulation 
1.1 The draft regulation updates the legal framework governing the minimum reserves regime 
established by BNR (hereinafter the ‘BNR Regulation’)
2 with a view to replacing references to 
certain repealed legal acts, replacing the legal basis for BNR’s power to take punitive action in the 
event of certain infringements of the BNR Regulation, and expanding the circumstances under which BNR may impose exceptional reserve requirements for a defined period of time with regard 
to certain credit institutions.  
1.2 Under the draft regulation, certain infringements of the minimum reserves regime are no longer 
qualified as a breach of banking conduct but as a breach of a BNR regulation. Hence, such 
infringements are no longer subject to the sanctioning regime under the banking law, but instead to the sanctioning regime under the Statute of BNR
3. As a consequence, where a credit institution (i) 
repeatedly fails to report or misreports the reserve base and data for the calculation of the average interest rate on demand deposits, or (ii) modifies accounting operations and/or statistical data in 
order to decrease its minimum reserves, BNR may impose the following sanctions
4: (a) a written 
                                                 
1  Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
2  Regulation No 6/2002 of Banca Na ţională a României regarding the minimum reserves regime, published in 
Monitorul Oficial al României, Part I, No 566 of 1 August 2002. 
3  See Article 57 of Law No 312/2004 regarding the Statute of Banca Na ţională a României, published in Monitorul 
Oficial al României, Part I, No 528 of 30 June 2004. 
4  See paragraph 3 of the sole Article of the draft regulation, which amends Article 27 of the BNR Regulation. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 warning; (b) a fine from 500 to 5 000 Romanian lei; (c) partial or total suspension of the 
authorisation granted by BNR for a period of up to 90 days; and (d) withdrawal of the authorisation 
granted by BNR.  
1.3 Furthermore, according to the draft regulation, where a credit institution fails to hold the required 
minimum reserves for two consecutive maintenance periods, BNR may carry out an on-site 
inspection at the institution’s headquarters. In addition, should the failure to hold the required 
minimum reserves occur more than twice within a 12-month period, BNR may impose any of the 
sanctions provided by the Statute of BNR for br each of a BNR regulation as listed in paragraph 
1.25.  
1.4 The draft regulation also amends the provision that lays down the circumstances under which BNR 
may establish exceptional reserve requirements, for a defined period of time, with regard to certain credit institutions. The application of an exceptional regime, which includes exemptions from 
penalty interest payments and the exclusion of certain liabilities from the reserve base, is subject to 
approval by the BNR’s Board. It may be applied on a case-by-case basis with regard to credit institutions subject to crisis prevention or crisis management measures, as well as in any other 
exceptional situations justified by objective cons iderations where the purpose of imposing minimum 
reserves requirements would not be met
6. In this regard, the explanatory memorandum to the draft 
regulation notes that the said amendment aims to enable BNR to apply, for a defined period, 
‘derogatory’ reserves requirements in respect of certain liabilities with residual maturity over two 
years with a view to supporting an adequate capitalisation of credit institutions.  
  
2. General observations 
 The ECB welcomes BNR’s initiative to upda te the legal framework governing the minimum 
reserves regime. As a Member State whose currency is not the euro, Romania retains its powers in 
the field of monetary policy according to national law until such time as the relevant derogation is 
lifted and Romania adopts the euro. This notwithstanding, it is beneficial to achieve consistency with the Eurosystem’s minimum reserves framework
7 so that credit institutions become acquainted 
with the reserves requirements that will apply to  them following the adoption of the euro in the 
Member State where they are established8. To that end, BNR should already give consideration to 
gradually bringing its regulations in this field in line with Eurosystem standards9. 
                                                 
5  See paragraph 4 of the sole Article of the draft regulation, which amends Article 28(2) of the BNR Regulation. Article 
57 of the Statute of BNR constitutes the general provision fo r the imposition of sanctions in case of a breach of the 
Statute and BNR regulations and decisions. In addition, in the area of minimum reserves, special provisions on 
sanctions are laid down in Article 8(4) of the Statute of BNR and Article 12 of the BNR Regulation, according to which BNR shall calculate and impose penalty interest, at a rate established by BNR, for the failure to hold the 
required reserves over the maintenance period.  
6  See paragraph 5 of the sole Article of the draft regulation, which amends Article 29 of the BNR Regulation. 
7  See, in particular, Article 19 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the European Central 
Bank; Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the application of minimum reserves 
by the European Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.98, p. 1); Regulation (EC) No 1745/2003 of the European Central 
Bank of 12 September 2003 on the application of minimum reserves (ECB/2003/9) (OJ L 250, 2.10.2003, p. 10); 
Regulation (EU) No 1071/2013 of the European Central Bank of 24 September 2013 concerning the balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector  (ECB/2013/33) (OJ L 297, 7.11.2013, p. 14). 
8  In the same vein, see Opinions CON/2014/42, CON/2013/79, CON/2011/75 and CON/2011/73. 
9  See, in this regard, paragraph 3.2 of Opinion CON/2011/73. On that occasion, the ECB also noted the differences at 
the time between the domestic minimum reserves regime and the Eurosystem’s minimum reserves framework.   
ECB-PUBLIC  
3 3. Specific observations 
3.1 Sanctions in the event of certain infringements   
 The ECB noted in an earlier opinion10 that, under the Romanian minimum reserves regime, the 
sanctions in cases of non-compliance are considerably more severe than those provided for under the Eurosystem’s minimum reserves framework. Following the amendments proposed under the 
draft regulation, the sanctioning regime applied to credit institutions failing to comply with 
obligations imposed upon them by BNR becomes even more severe. Thus, pursuant to the 
amended Article 28(2) of the BNR Regulation, the sanctions that BNR is empowered to apply for 
the failure to hold the required minimum reserves more than twice within a 12-month period are no longer confined to warnings, fines and levying a penalty interest, but also include partial or total 
suspension of an authorisation for a period of up to 90 days as well as withdrawal of an authorisation. In contrast, for the same type of infringements, the Eurosystem’s minimum reserves 
framework provides for periodic penalty payments only
11. The ECB invites the consulting authority 
to ensure that the sanctions applied under the BNR Regulation are proportional and suitable for the purposes of minimum reserves requirements.    
3.2 Exceptional reserve requirements  
 The ECB understands that the amendment to Articl e 29 of the BNR Regulation aims to enable 
BNR’s Board to apply an exceptional minimum reserves regime to credit institutions which may 
temporarily face difficulties in meeting their capita l requirements. In this regard, the ECB cautions 
against setting temporary tailor-made reserve requirements for certain credit institutions. Any 
exemptions from the obligation to hold certain minimum reserves should be established based on clear criteria and the principle of non-discrimination. From this perspective, it is noted that pursuant 
to the draft regulation the application of the exceptional regime has to be decided on objective grounds. However, it is not clear what are these ‘exceptional circumstances’, other than crisis 
prevention or crisis management, that may be considered by BNR’s Board in taking such a decision.  
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 30 August 2016. 
 
[signed]  
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI 
                                                 
10  See paragraph 3.3.4 of Opinion CON/2011/73.   
11  See Article 7(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98.