Countercyclical Capital Buffer (CCyB)

(updated on 20 February 2024) 

Whilst the CCyB requirement remains in place, it takes effect as an extension of an AI’s Capital Conservation Buffer. This means that AIs will not breach their continuing authorization criteria should their levels of CET1 capital fall within the extended zone, but they will be subject to restrictions on distributions of earnings for so long as they do not meet the extended buffer requirement.

Whilst different national authorities impose their own capital requirements, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has established a jurisdictional reciprocity mechanism for the CCyB. In order to maintain a level playing field between domestic and cross-border banks, each national authority is responsible for ensuring that the banks incorporated in their jurisdiction calculate buffer requirements on the basis of the CCyB in place in the jurisdictions where they have private sector credit exposures.

Basel III provides for implementation of the CCyB from 1 January 2016. To implement the measure locally, the HKMA amended the Banking (Capital) Rules in 2014 to incorporate provisions for the imposition of capital requirements arising from the operation of the CCyB, as well as from the Capital Conservation Buffer which also came into effect from 1 January 2016.