S.L. 330.9 Art. 19Group financial support agreement.

(1) A parent institution, a Union parent institution, or an entity referred to in paragraphs (c) or (d) of the definition "entity" in regulation 2(1) and its subsidiaries, whether established in another Member State or in a third country and which are institutions or financial institutions covered by the consolidated supervision of the parent undertaking, may enter into an agreement to provide financial support to any other party to the agreement that meets the conditions for early intervention pursuant to regulation 27, provided that the conditions laid down in this regulation and in regulations 20 to 26 are satisfied.

(2) This regulation and regulations 20 to 26 do not apply to intra-group financial arrangements including funding arrangements and the operation of centralised funding arrangements provided that none of the parties to such arrangements meets the conditions for early intervention.

(3) A group financial support agreement shall not constitute a prerequisite:

(a) to provide group financial support to any group entity that experiences financial difficulties if the institution decides to do so, on a case-by-case basis and according to the group policies if it does not represent a risk for the whole group; or

(b) to operate in a Member State.

(4) Notwithstanding the provision of any other law, intra-group financial support transactions that are undertaken in accordance with this regulation and regulations 20 to 26, shall not be prohibited:

Provided that, this regulation and regulations 20 to 26 shall not prevent the imposition of limitations on intra-group transactions in connection with Maltese law exercising the options provided for in the CRR, transposing the CRD or requiring the separation of parts of a group or activities carried on within a group for reasons of financial stability.

(5) The group financial support agreement may:

(a) cover one or more subsidiaries of the group, and may provide for financial support from the parent undertaking to subsidiaries, from subsidiaries to the parent undertaking, between subsidiaries of the group that are party to the agreement, or any combination of those entities;

(b) provide for financial support in the form of a loan, the provision of guarantees, the provision of assets for use as collateral, or any combination of those forms of financial support, in one or more transactions, including between the beneficiary of the support and a third party.

(6) Where, in accordance with the terms of the group financial support agreement, a group entity agrees to provide financial support to another group entity, the agreement may include a reciprocal agreement by the group entity receiving the support to provide financial support to the group entity providing the support.

(7) The group financial support agreement shall specify the principles for the calculation of the consideration, for any transaction made under it. Those principles shall include a requirement that the consideration shall be set at the time of the provision of financial support. The agreement, including the principles for calculation of the consideration for the provision of financial support and the other terms of the agreement, shall comply with the following principles:

(a) each party must be acting freely in entering into the agreement;

(b) in entering into the agreement and in determining the consideration for the provision of financial support, each party must be acting in its own best interests which may take account of any direct or any indirect benefit that may accrue to a party as a result of provision of the financial support;

(c) each party providing financial support must have full disclosure of relevant information from any party receiving financial support prior to determination of the consideration for the provision of financial support and prior to any decision to provide financial support;

(d) the consideration for the provision of financial support may take account of information in the possession of the party providing financial support based on it being in the same group as the party receiving financial support and which is not available to the market; and

(e) the principles for the calculation of the consideration for the provision of financial support are not obliged to take account of any anticipated temporary impact on market prices arising from events external to the group.

(8) The group financial support agreement may only be concluded if, at the time the proposed agreement is made, in the opinion of the Authority and the respective European regulatory authorities of the parties to the group financial support agreement, none of the parties meets the conditions for early intervention.

(9) Any right, claim or action arising from the group financial support agreement may be exercised only by the parties to the agreement, with the exclusion of third parties.