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2. Adjustment of Risk-Weights for Overlapping Exposures

C 52/2017 STA Effective from 1/4/2021

20.Banks may adjust risk weights for overlapping exposures. An exposure A overlaps another exposure B if in all circumstances the bank can avoid any loss on exposure B by fulfilling its obligations with respect to exposure A. For example, if a bank holds notes as an investor but provides full credit support to those notes, its full credit support obligation precludes any loss from its exposure to the notes. If a bank can verify that fulfilling its obligations with respect to exposure A will preclude a loss from its exposure to B under any circumstance, the bank does not need to calculate risk-weighted assets for its exposure B.

21.To demonstrate an overlap, a bank may, for the purposes of calculating capital requirements, split or expand its exposures. That is, splitting exposures into portions that overlap with another exposure held by the bank and other portions that do not overlap, or expanding exposures by assuming for capital purposes that obligations with respect to one of the overlapping exposures are larger than those established contractually. The latter could be done, for instance, by expanding either the assumed extent of the obligation, or the trigger events to exercise the facility. A bank may also recognize overlap between exposures in the trading book and securitisation exposures in the banking book, provided that the bank is able to calculate and compare the capital charges for the relevant exposures.