Systemic risk buffer (in force from 1 January 2025)
Systemic risk buffer (in force from 1 January 2025)
At its 713th meeting on 21 November 2023, the Governing Council of Banka Slovenije adopted a Regulation amending the Regulation on determining the requirement to maintain a systemic risk buffer for banks and savings banks (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 131/23), hereinafter referred to as the Regulation.
With the Regulation the systemic risk buffer rate for all retail exposures to individuals secured by residential real estate is reduced from 1.0% to 0.5% of the total risk exposure amount. Banks will be able to apply the new buffer rate from 1 January 2025.
The downward recalibration of the sectoral buffer for exposures secured by residential real estate is based on regular systemic risk assessments, which indicate that the situation in the Slovenian real estate market is moderating. In our assessment, the period of high house price growth and high growth in housing loans in a context of high inflation and higher interest rates is coming to an end.
The requirement to maintain a systemic risk buffer for all banks in relation to sectoral exposures in the Republic of Slovenia referred to in the first and second indents of Article 247(4) of Article 247(1) of ZBan-3 as of 1 January 2025 is therefore:
0.5 % for all retail exposures to natural persons secured by residential real estate;
0.5 % for all other exposures to natural persons.
Regular review of the calibration of the sectoral systemic risk buffer
At its 767th meeting on 16 June 2026, the Governing Board of Banka Slovenije confirmed the results of the regular review of the calibration of the sectoral systemic risk buffer (sSyRB). Based on the assessment conducted, it was concluded that the current buffer rates remain appropriate and should be kept unchanged.
The calibration assessment is based on a selected set of indicators capturing vulnerabilities in household lending and the real estate market, complemented by expert judgement. The analysis shows that risks are currently manageable and do not require a change in the current calibration of the sSyRB, although some vulnerabilities are gradually increasing. Within the macroprudential restrictions on household lending, which the sSyRB complements as a capital-based instrument, the share of loans granted under the permitted exemptions from the DSTI limit remains low and below the permitted threshold. The credit quality of the household portfolio is good, while realised losses on exposures secured by residential real estate remain low. At the same time, risks in the real estate market have increased somewhat recently, mainly due to accelerated growth in housing loans and the continued overvaluation of residential real estate prices.
Banka Slovenije assesses that the sSyRB continues to be an important preventive instrument that contributes to strengthening banks’ resilience to the potential materialisation of sectorally concentrated risks. Banka Slovenije will continue to regularly monitor risk developments and, if necessary, adjust the calibration of the instrument.
Related secondary legislation:
Decision on the requirement to maintain a systemic risk buffer for banks and savings banks (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 60/22).
Decision amending the Decision on the requirement to maintain a systemic risk buffer for banks and savings banks (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 131/23).