ECB Banking Supervision (SSM)

Which banks does the ECB supervise directly?

110 significant institutions, on the list of supervised entities with a cut-off date of 1 May 2026, published 26 June 2026. Everything else, roughly two thousand less significant institutions, is supervised by national authorities under ECB oversight.

A bank is significant if it meets any one of these criteria:

• total assets above €30 billion; or
• total assets above €5 billion and above 20% of national GDP; or
• it is one of the three largest banks in its member state; or
• it has received or requested assistance from the ESM or EFSF.

Dutch significant institutions include ABN AMRO, Rabobank, ING, BNG Bank, Nederlandse Waterschapsbank, GarantiBank International, RBS Holdings, NatWest Markets and Promontoria 19. In Germany, BaFin's Annual Report 2025 counts 1,089 less significant institutions supervised nationally as at 31 December 2025, a ratio to the significant population that tells you most of what you need to know about where mid-sized German banks are actually supervised.

What does the ECB publish, and how often?

ECB Banking Supervision publishes an annual set of supervisory priorities covering the next three years, annual aggregate SREP results, stress test results, a quarterly Supervision Newsletter, supervisory banking statistics, guides and public consultations, and individual sanction decisions. Data is available through the ECB Data Portal. The rhythm is predictable: priorities in December, SREP aggregates in December, the sanctioning report in spring, stress test results in summer.

The 2025 SREP produced an aggregate CET1 requirement of 11.2%, a Pillar 2 requirement of 1.2% and Pillar 2 guidance of 1.1%.

What does the ECB's enforcement look like?

2025 was a five-year high. The ECB's 2025 sanctioning report, published 11 May 2026, records 370 proceedings and €57.15 million in fines. Individual sanctions in the last twelve months include J.P. Morgan (€12.18 million), Belfius (€6.94 million), BofA Securities Europe (€6.2 million), Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (€3.255 million) and Nordea Finance Finland (€2.26 million). On-site activity in 2025 comprised 163 on-site inspections and 77 internal model investigations.

For a mid-sized bank, the useful signal is not the fine amounts but the inspection count: 163 inspections across 110 significant institutions is roughly 1.5 per bank per year, and that intensity is the reference point against which national supervision of less significant institutions is calibrated.

What changes at the significance threshold?

Crossing €30 billion in total assets moves your direct supervisor from your national authority to the ECB, brings you into the EU-wide stress test population, and puts your SREP decision in Frankfurt. Below it, you are supervised by DNB, BaFin or the FMA, but under ECB oversight, with the ECB setting the framework, issuing guides and retaining the power to take over direct supervision. CRR3 also carries proportionality for small and non-complex institutions, a defined category under the CRR rather than a supervisory courtesy.

The practical consequence for a growing institution: the threshold is a planning horizon, not a surprise. It is measurable years ahead from your own balance sheet.