(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations implement in part the provisions relating to capital buffers in Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms (OJ no L176, 27/6/2013, p. 338; for corrigenda see OJ no L208, 2/8/2013, p.73). This directive ("the capital requirements directive") is part of a package of EU legislation commonly known as "CRD4". Articles 128 to 142, 160 and 162 of the capital requirements directive are concerned with capital buffers. Further implementation of the capital buffers provisions will be achieved through rules, or other binding requirements, imposed by the Prudential Regulation Authority ("PRA") and Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA").

The Regulations also make provision in relation to the notification procedure under Article 458 of Regulation 575/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms (OJ no L176, 27/6/2013, p.1, for corrigenda see OJ no L208, 27/6/2013, p.68 and OJ no L321, 30/11/2013, p.6) ("the capital requirements regulation").

Part 1 contains provisions relating to commencement, cessation and interpretation. The countercyclical capital buffer commences on 1st May 2014 and the other capital buffers commence on 1st January 2016.