Currently, the credit industry is informed about decisions made in cases of doubt about the risk weighting of foreign public authorities in the form of a circular. As the practical application of this method has caused difficulties, I have checked whether the information procedure can be simplified and improved in the interest of all parties concerned.

After consultation with the Deutsche Bundesbank, I have come to the conclusion that decisions made in cases of doubt about the risk weighting of individual counterparties in Principle I will henceforth be published on the homepage of the Federal Banking Supervisory Office (http://www.bakred.de). To ensure a continuing flow of information, I will always communicate the risk weighting decisions in writing to the central associations of the institutions, indicating that the decisions are published in the Internet. All in all, the advantage of the new information procedure is a clear reduction of the administrative expense without any loss of information.

I would like to take the modification of the information procedure as an opportunity to draw your attention to the following facts:

I like to point out that the supervisory authority is only required to make decisions concerning a counterparty's risk weighting in Principle I and thus the amount of the capital charge to be applied to it cannot be finally clarified by the credit institutions themselves. Prior to making an inquiry regarding the risk weighting of such entities, credit institutions are required, as before, to make efforts to examine and decide the matter themselves. This examination must be described in the inquiry. In this context, the points about which the institution is still in doubt must be indicated in particular. The inquiry must also contain all facts necessary for making the decision, especially all legal opinions which might exist. In the case of insufficiently documented inquiries, I reserve the right to request corresponding documents; if no need for a banking supervisory decision is discernible from the inquiry, the Federal Banking Supervisory Office will not decide on the matter.