The SSM Regulation distinguishes between two groups of banks. So-called significant banks are directly supervised by the ECB, whereas less significant banks are directly supervised by the NCAs.
The criteria for determining whether a bank is considered significant
are as follows:
- Its consolidated total assets exceed €30 billion.
- The ratio of its assets to the GDP of the country where it is established exceeds 20%, unless its consolidated total assets are below €5 billion.
- It is one of the three most significant banks in a Member State.
- It has subsidiaries in more than one participating country, whose cross-border assets or liabilities represent over 20% of its total assets or liabilities.
- It has received or requested direct funding from the European Financial Stability Facility or the European Stability Mechanism.
The ECB keeps a list of all the supervised entities in the countries participating in the SSM, which includes all the significant banks together with their groups and all the less significant banks directly supervised by each national authority.