In December 2025, the ECB published reports on banking rule simplification, approved updates on market infrastructure projects, and made decisions on supervisory and governance matters, including new guidelines and stress tests.
On 11 December 2025, the ECB published three documents related to the simplification of EU banking rules. These include recommendations for streamlining the prudential regulatory, supervisory, and reporting framework, a report on enhancing banking supervision effectiveness, and a report by the European Systemic Risk Board. A press release accompanied these publications.
Regarding market infrastructure, on 20 November 2025, the Governing Council approved an update to the legal framework for the Eurosystem’s exploration of settlement in central bank money using distributed ledger technology (DLT). This work will continue until the third quarter of 2026, with two tracks: short-term “Pontes” and long-term “Appia”.
On 21 November 2025, an update was approved for the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS) following its delayed operational start in June 2025. Additionally, on 4 December 2025, the Governing Council approved amendments to agreements to include Bulgaria following its accession to the euro area on 1 January 2026.
The same day, eligibility criteria for the Pontes project and its pilot phase were approved, with the initial launch scheduled for late Q3 2026. The 2025 joint ECB-EBA report on payment fraud was authorized for publication, providing a comprehensive overview of payment fraud data.
In legislative advice, the ECB issued opinions on conflicts of interest among the Central Bank of Cyprus staff, ownership of Banca d’Italia’s gold reserves, taxation of financial institutions, digitalisation of the financial sector, interaction between national law and banking rules, and intragroup merger procedures. Notably, opinions on the ownership of Italian gold reserves and on banking sector taxation were adopted in December 2025.
Regarding governance, amendments were made to the legal framework for Bulgaria’s entry into the Eurosystem, including decisions on euro banknotes issuance and the capital transfer. Appointments included Sergio Nicoletti Altimari as Chair of the Committee on Controlling and Elisa Newby as co-Chair of the Organisational Development Committee, both effective from 1 January 2026.
In international cooperation, the ECB endorsed the third phase of the Western Balkans central bank capacity-building programme and a two-year extension of the cooperation with African central banks to strengthen financial stability and governance.
ECB Banking Supervision announced FAQs on ESG disclosure requirements, the publication of the TIBER-EU SSM Implementation Guide, and the 2026 supervisory examination programme. The final results of the asset quality review for Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien were disclosed, along with a new ECB guideline on non-performing loans of less significant institutions. A geopolitical risk reverse stress test is planned for 2026, and an updated guide on significant risk transfer and implicit support for securitisations was published.
