The EU has now published its near-final Banking Package, which (in part) makes significant amendments to the EU’s Capital Requirements Directive (known as CRD VI). 

Cross-border services: from November 2026, non-EU banks will no longer be able to provide cross-border “core banking” services to EU-based clients, subject to exemptions for interbank and intragroup activities, as well as for business resulting from client “reverse solicitation”.

Third-country Branches (TCBs): also from November 2026, new and existing TCBs face (re)authorisation against a new EU-wide set of requirements, including on capital, liquidity, risk management and governance, that are more stringent than those currently applied in some Member States (MS).

TCB subsidiarisation: some TCBs (whether due to size, systemic importance or having conducted cross-border business) may be required to restructure, hold additional capital or even subsidiarise in order to resolve supervisory concerns.

Big Picture: CRD VI will force non-EU banks to rethink their overall European footprint. Non-EU banks operating or considering setting up multiple TCBs should assess the benefits of consolidating their business into one European entity, and any decisions should be made alongside wider rationalisation programmes already in train.

Why now? given the number of considerations in play, non-EU banks must start their impact assessment now, not only to be ready to comply, but to be “right-sized” for when these potentially costly rules take effect.