Institutions entered the crisis with capital of insufficient quantity and quality and, in order to safeguard financial stability, governments had to provide support to the banking sector in many countries.

[1] Within this framework the previous CRD was divided into two legislative instruments: a directive governing the access to deposit-taking activities and a regulation establishing the prudential requirements institutions need to respect.

A regulation is subject to the same political decision making process as a directive at European level, ensuring full democratic control.

[1] In implementing the Basel III agreement within the EU, capital, liquidity and the leverage ratio were considered, covering the whole balance sheet of the banks.

[1] In addition to Basel III implementation, the package introduces a number of important changes to the banking regulatory framework.

[3][4] This will ensure uniform application of Basel III in all Member States, it will close regulatory loopholes and will thus contribute to a more effective functioning of the Internal Market.