PS16/26 – PRA rule changes to accommodate HM Treasury’s Overseas Prudential Requirements Regime

Key dates

Early July 2026

- PRA publishes PS16/26, confirming final rule changes to accommodate the OPRR and indicating that final rules have been made on the understanding that the OPRR statutory instrument will be made and in force prior to 1 January 2027

Q3 2026

- HM Treasury is expected to make the OPRR statutory instrument, with the PRA indicating it will amend or revoke its final rules if the instrument is amended prior to being made or is not made

02 July 2026

- HM Treasury lays before Parliament the Overseas Prudential Requirements Regime (Credit Institutions and Investment Firms) Regulations 2026, which will replace relevant UK CRR equivalence provisions as the statutory OPRR framework

01 January 2027

- The Overseas Prudential Requirements Regime (Credit Institutions and Investment Firms) Regulations 2026 come into force and the PRA’s new rules under PS16/26 take effect, coinciding with the PRA’s broader implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards; from this date, UK CRR equivalence provisions are revoked and replaced by the OPRR framework and associated PRA Rulebook changes

Suggested considerations

• Review and update internal capital models and Standardised Approach calculations for credit risk to ensure the classification and risk‑weighting of overseas exposures reflect the new OPRR‑linked definitions (e.g. treatment as “institutions” versus “corporates”) from 01 January 2027.
• Update ICAAP methodologies, risk appetite statements, and SREP documentation (including for SDDTs) to reflect the continued 100% risk weight for overseas public sector entities in non‑designated jurisdictions and any changes to the treatment of overseas covered bonds, institutions, and exchanges.
• Amend Pillar 2 reporting processes and templates, including FSA076 Pillar 2 Credit Risk Standardised Approach returns, to align data capture and reporting with the revised definitions, risk weights, and categorisation of overseas exposures under the PRA’s updated Rulebook and Statements of Policy.

What changed

• - The PRA Rulebook is amended across core CRR Parts (including Glossary, Credit Risk – General Provisions, Standardised Approach, IRB, Credit Risk Mitigation, Securitisation, Counterparty Credit Risk, Large Exposures, Market Risk – Advanced and Simpl
• Definitions of key exposure classes (such as “institution”, “credit institution”, “designated investment firm”, “central government”, “central bank”, “regional government”, “local authority”, “public sector entity”, and certain Gibraltarian entities)
• Under the Standardised Approach to credit risk, the treatment of exposures to overseas credit institutions and designated investment firms is aligned to OPRR designations so that favourable “exposures to institutions” risk weights apply only where th
• The PRA restates and preserves the 100% risk-weight requirement for exposures to overseas public sector entities (PSEs) in non-designated (non‑equivalent) jurisdictions, maintaining alignment with the risk‑neutral treatment of unrated corporates and
• Large Exposures rules are amended so that exposures to overseas credit institutions and investment firms qualify as “institution” exposures only where HM Treasury has determined the jurisdiction’s prudential and supervisory requirements to be at leas
• The regime for eligible covered bonds is expanded and re‑tooled so that future HM Treasury designations under the OPRR can recognise overseas eligible covered bonds; PRA capital rules (including the Article 129 framework and associated preferential t

Who is affected

• PRA-authorised UK banks (including major UK banking groups with overseas counterparties and portfolios of foreign sovereigns, PSEs, and covered bonds).
• UK building societies with exposures to overseas institutions, covered bonds, and public sector entities that rely on CRR/OPRR‑linked preferential capital treatments.
• PRA-designated UK investment firms subject to CRR-derived prudential requirements, including those with significant overseas institutional, exchange, and covered bond exposures.
• Qualifying parent undertakings of the above firms (financial holding companies and mixed financial holding companies) that must apply consolidated prudential treatment to overseas exposures under the revised Rulebook.
• Small Domestic Deposit Takers (SDDTs) within scope of SoP 5/25 and SS4/25, whose Pillar 2 and ICAAP/SREP frameworks for overseas exposures will operate under the updated OPRR‑aligned rules.