European Central Bank details harmonised framework to accept national central bank statistical credit assessment systems for Eurosystem collateral from 2026

The European Central Bank published an ECB Economic Bulletin article explaining how the Eurosystem will add national central banks’ statistical in-house credit assessment systems (S-ICASs) as an additional Eurosystem Credit Assessment Framework (ECAF) source under the general collateral framework from 2026, alongside existing in-house credit assessment systems, external credit assessment institutions and counterparties’ internal ratings-based systems. The change is positioned as strengthening the Eurosystem’s internal credit assessment capacity and widening the pool of collateral available for credit operations. S-ICASs will assess non-financial corporations as debtors or guarantors of credit claims, with a specific focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, excluding those with large exposures. The ECB describes a newly developed harmonised framework covering the scope of firms, methodological requirements including climate change considerations, governance, national central bank monitoring, and validation procedures, and it limits S-ICAS coverage to domestic firms with exposures reported to AnaCredit. To manage the transition, national central banks currently operating statistical systems under the temporary collateral framework (Banca d’Italia, Banco de España, Banco de Portugal and Oesterreichische Nationalbank) will be able to keep using them under current conditions until their acceptance under the general collateral framework is completed, and guidance has been set for sharing S-ICASs across national central banks.