/ 3 bis central bankers'speeches collateral pool. the imminent entry into force of the regime allowing state - guaranteed loans to be accepted as collateral will give banks even greater access to eurosystem financing. 2. 3 adaptation of prudential policy the ecb, acpr and banking supervision bodies ( the european banking authority, the basel committee, etc. ) have also decided to take account of the impact of the crisis by making intelligent use of the flexibilities that they have as supervisors in the implementation of the regulations : we have reduced certain capital requirements and called on banks to reduce their precautionary reserves. we sometimes hear the suggestion that this is an unjustified relaxation : it is precisely the opposite. it is for this sort of exceptional circumstance that the reserves of capital and liquidity were built up. this is indeed in the spirit of the regulation that they should be used now, in a countercyclical way. this equates to a temporary reduction in the minimum capital requirement of about 3 percentage points for french banks. we have also temporarily reduced certain workloads by postponing stress - tests and easing certain reporting conditions. in addition, the european commission recently proposed a series of targeted revisions to the crr, to provide a regulatory response to the crisis on top of the flexibilities granted to the supervisor. while preserving the resilience of the banks, there is a need to make some adjustments to the prudential framework, to limit some procyclical effects of the current crisis on the level of capital requirements. the proposed measures are a step in the right direction, although we would like, in line with the recent us decisions, to exclude state - guaranteed loans from the leverage ratio. together, they will enable banks to continue playing their full role in financing the economy, which is a prerequisite for a rapid economic recovery. the preliminary assessment published by the eba this week needs, of course, to be interpreted with caution. but it expects that the majority of european banks have sufficient capital buffers to absorb the severe shock of the covid - 19 crisis. the eba estimates the impact at between 230 and 380 basis points of cet1 capital. and with the aforementioned prudential easing measures, the banks have additional leeway. however, the earnings figures for the first quarter of 2020 already bear the scars of the economic difficulties and the shock to the financial markets. the earnings reports for the four main french banking

groups ( bnp paribas, societe generale, groupe credit agricole and groupe bpce ) showed a decline of 4. 8 % in net banking income and a rise of 130 % in the cost of risk, and, consequently, a drop of nearly 50 % in net earnings compared with the first quarter of 2019. as a result, financial entities and institutions need to be actively monitored, to ensure that they remain sufficiently financially sound. the acpr, alongside the single supervisory mechanism, is remaining extremely vigilant in all its areas of competence, including with regard to the protection of customers and climate - related risks. in the face of this crisis, it is more important than ever that we have a competent supervisor and a resilient financial system. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches