Frequently Asked Questions — BCBS 239 and RDARR Guide

BCBS 239 is a set of 14 principles published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in January 2013, aimed at strengthening banks' ability to aggregate their risk data and produce reliable risk reports, including during periods of stress.

The principles are primarily aimed at Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs). The Basel Committee strongly recommends that national supervisors also apply them to Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), three years after their designation.

BCBS 239 comprises 14 principles, grouped into 4 pillars: overarching governance and infrastructure, risk data aggregation capabilities, risk reporting practices, and supervisory review, tools and cooperation.

G-SIBs designated in 2011 or 2012 had to comply by January 2016; G-SIBs designated subsequently have three years from their designation.

RDARR is the abbreviation for "Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting", used in particular by the ECB to refer to risk data aggregation and risk reporting.

BCBS 239 is the Basel Committee's founding text, published in 2013. The ECB's RDARR Guide (May 2024) is a separate document that sets out the ECB's minimum supervisory expectations for the institutions it directly supervises, without replacing or amending the 14 principles.

Its 2016 thematic review, followed by its 2018 report, showed that no institution examined, including the most systemic ones, fully followed BCBS 239. Despite a warning letter sent in 2019, the ECB found that RDARR remained, in 2023, the worst-rated internal governance sub-category of the SREP.

Under the ECB's Guide, supervisors can require remedial action, intensify supervision, impose Pillar 2 capital add-ons, limit the growth of activities, or even reassess the fitness of the responsible members of the management body.

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