Description

A focused course, tailored for you

The Senior Risk Officer ICAAP and SREP Readiness Course

Build the capital adequacy narrative, stress scenario library, and supervisory dialogue artefacts that get your ICAAP through SREP without a round of clarifications.

Your ICAAP is technically complete. The stress test numbers pass the threshold. The risk appetite statement exists. But when the SREP review team comes back three weeks after submission, their first clarification request targets the narrative link between capital adequacy and strategic plan, and you spend the next month in a back-and-forth that delays your capital planning cycle.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

For a Senior Risk Officer at a systemically important European bank, the ICAAP is never just a compliance exercise. It is the document that positions the bank's capital adequacy story with the ECB or national competent authority for the next 12 months. When the narrative does not cohere, when the stress scenario library does not directly feed the capital impact calculations, or when the risk appetite statement reads as disconnected from the business plan, examiners treat it as a governance weakness rather than a documentation gap. The difference between an ICAAP that passes SREP cleanly and one that triggers a Pillar 2 Guidance uplift is often in the qualitative sections, not the quant.

This course teaches you to build and own those qualitative sections: the strategic capital narrative, the scenario design methodology, the risk appetite cascade from board level down to business line, and the dialogue preparation pack that tells your examiner exactly where to look before they ask.

What you walk away with

Produce an ICAAP narrative section that directly links capital adequacy to the bank's three-year strategic plan in terms an ECB examiner accepts without requesting revisions.
Build a stress scenario library that covers the standard SREP categories and maps each scenario to a capital impact calculation your quant team can reproduce.
Write a risk appetite statement that cascades from board-level tolerance language down to business line limits, with a clear audit trail for the examiner.
Prepare a supervisory dialogue pack that anticipates the twelve most common SREP clarification requests for a bank of your size and legal entity structure.
Design an ICAAP governance calendar that aligns capital planning, risk appetite review, and SREP submission into a single annual cycle with no rework loops.
Benchmark your ICAAP structure against the EBA ICAAP Guidelines and CRD requirements to identify material gaps before the submission date.

The 12 modules

Module 1. What SREP Examiners Actually Read First

Most ICAAP submissions open with a legal entity overview that examiners skip. This module maps the actual reading sequence of an ECB or EBA SREP team: where they go first, which sections trigger a clarification flag, and what they are testing for in the opening narrative. You leave with a submission structure that reduces first-read friction. Covers ECB SREP methodology, EBA Guidelines on ICAAP, and the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process framework.

Module 2. Connecting Capital Adequacy to Strategic Plan

The qualitative section that fails most often is the link between the bank's three-year strategic plan and its capital adequacy assessment. This module teaches you to build that link explicitly: revenue assumptions, capital consumption projections, and the narrative that ties them. You produce a two-page capital narrative chapter that survives examiner scrutiny without a revision request. Aligned to CRD Article 73 own risk and solvency assessment requirements.

Module 3. Stress Scenario Library Design

Examiners probe stress scenarios for three things: coverage of the standard risk categories, plausibility of the severity calibration, and traceability from scenario to capital impact. This module covers scenario design methodology, the taxonomy of baseline, adverse, and severely adverse scenarios, and the documentation standard that lets your quant team reproduce each calculation. You leave with a scenario library template structured for your business model and balance sheet composition.

Module 4. Pillar 2 Risk Identification and Materiality Assessment

Pillar 2 material risks are where ICAAP narrative gaps become Pillar 2 Guidance uplifts. This module covers the materiality assessment methodology, the standard risk taxonomy for a large European bank (credit concentration, interest rate in the banking book, liquidity, operational, reputational, strategic), and the documentation format that lets you defend each materiality call. Aligned to EBA GL/2016/10 and the SREP risk assessment framework.

Module 5. Risk Appetite Statement That Passes the Board Test

A risk appetite statement that reads as a compliance artefact rather than a governance document is a SREP red flag. This module covers the architecture of a board-approved risk appetite framework: qualitative and quantitative statements, the cascade from group level to legal entity to business line, the monitoring metrics, and the escalation triggers. You produce a draft risk appetite statement chapter written in language both the board and the examiner can read without interpretation.

Module 6. Capital Adequacy Assessment Under Pillar 2

This module covers the internal capital adequacy number: how to arrive at it, how to document the methodology, and how to position it relative to regulatory minimum capital requirements. Covers the add-on methodology for each Pillar 2 risk category, the relationship between internal capital and Pillar 2 Guidance, and the documentation format that shows your examiner you have not simply anchored to Pillar 1. Aligned to EBA ICAAP Guidelines and CRD Article 73.

Module 7. IRRBB Documentation for SREP Review

Interest rate risk in the banking book is one of the most common sources of SREP clarification at large European banks. This module covers the IRRBB measurement methodology documentation, the NII and EVE sensitivity disclosures, the behavioural assumption set for non-maturity deposits, and the governance narrative that ties IRRBB to your risk appetite framework. Aligned to EBA GL/2018/02 and the updated IRRBB supervisory expectations under CRR2.

Module 8. Operational Risk Scenarios and Capital Charge

Examiners at systemically important banks expect the operational risk section of the ICAAP to go beyond the Standardised Approach output. This module covers the qualitative scenario analysis methodology, the documentation of internal loss data and external benchmark data, and the narrative that contextualises the capital charge within the bank's operational risk appetite. You leave with a worked operational risk scenario set and a capital charge justification template.

Module 9. Concentration Risk and Large Exposure Monitoring

Credit concentration risk is a Pillar 2 add-on driver that examiners test with specific questions about single-name concentration, sector concentration, and geographic concentration relative to the bank's business model. This module covers the measurement methodology, the concentration limits framework, and the narrative documentation that positions concentration risk within your overall capital adequacy assessment. Aligned to EBA GL/2018/06 and the large exposures framework under CRR.

Module 10. ICAAP Governance Calendar and Internal Sign-Off

Governance failures in the ICAAP process are detected not in the document but in the audit trail of approvals, challenges, and escalations. This module covers the ICAAP governance calendar design, the internal challenge process documentation (Risk Committee, ALCO, Board), the management information pack that feeds the capital planning cycle, and the sign-off protocol that demonstrates genuine board ownership. You leave with a governance calendar template aligned to your SREP submission date.

Module 11. Supervisory Dialogue Preparation Pack

A SREP examination is a dialogue, not a document review. This module covers the preparation methodology: mapping the twelve most common examiner questions to the relevant ICAAP section, preparing the backup evidence pack, and briefing internal stakeholders for on-site or off-site interviews. You produce a dialogue preparation pack structured around the ECB SREP methodology that your team can use as a run-book for the examination cycle.

Module 12. Benchmarking Against EBA Guidelines and Closing Gaps

This final module covers the self-assessment against EBA GL/2018/04 ICAAP Guidelines and CRD requirements: where the gaps typically sit for a bank of your size and structure, how to prioritise remediation before submission, and how to document remaining gaps with a credible remediation timeline that satisfies examiner expectations. You leave with a gap assessment checklist and a remediation log template ready for the next ICAAP cycle.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

SREP submission triggers ECB clarification round: Modules 1, 2, 11 address narrative structure and dialogue preparation.

Pillar 2 Guidance uplift from capital adequacy challenge: Modules 4, 6, 9 address materiality, capital assessment, and concentration risk documentation.

Board or Risk Committee challenges the ICAAP methodology: Modules 5, 10 address risk appetite governance and internal sign-off trail.

IRRBB or operational risk section draws specific examiner questions: Modules 7, 8 cover the dedicated documentation requirements for each.

What you get with this course

Twelve written course modules covering the full ICAAP and SREP readiness methodology
Downloadable templates: capital narrative chapter, stress scenario library, risk appetite statement, supervisory dialogue preparation pack, governance calendar, gap assessment checklist
Worked examples drawn from EBA ICAAP Guidelines and ECB SREP methodology documentation
Hand-built implementation playbook tailored to your role and institution type, delivered alongside course access

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.

Before and after

Before

ICAAP submission is technically complete but the qualitative narrative does not hold together under SREP scrutiny, generating clarification rounds that delay capital planning and consume senior risk officer time across the examination cycle.

After

You own the ICAAP narrative, scenario library, and supervisory dialogue pack. The submission is structured so examiners find what they need before they ask. Capital planning runs on schedule. Pillar 2 Guidance uplifts are pre-empted, not managed reactively.

What happens if you do not address this

SREP examination cycles are on fixed timelines. A clarification round triggered by a narrative gap in this submission does not get fixed until the next ICAAP cycle, twelve months later. The Pillar 2 Guidance impact from a repeated documentation weakness compounds across cycles.

Who it is for

Senior Risk Officers and Risk Directors at large European banks, typically four to twelve years in risk functions, who own or co-own the ICAAP process. You have the quantitative foundation. What you are building now is the supervisory communication layer: the artefacts that let your capital adequacy story survive a detailed SREP examination without generating clarification loops.

Who this is NOT for. Risk analysts who are not yet involved in ICAAP ownership or supervisory dialogue. Compliance officers whose primary framework is AML or conduct rather than prudential capital. Teams at non-systemically-important institutions where SREP is less intensive.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Approximately 8 to 12 hours across the twelve modules. Designed to be completed in the weeks before an ICAAP drafting cycle opens, or used as a reference during the SREP examination period.

Why $199 is the right number

EBA and ECB publish the guidelines. They do not explain how to build the narrative sections that survive scrutiny, how to structure the stress scenario library for your business model, or how to prepare your team for the supervisory dialogue. Consultants who help with ICAAP readiness typically charge engagements starting at EUR 50,000. This course delivers the methodology and the artefact templates at a fraction of that cost.

FAQ

Is this relevant for Pillar 2 add-on calculations specifically?

Yes. Modules 4 and 6 cover the Pillar 2 risk identification and capital adequacy calculation methodology directly. Module 9 covers concentration risk as a Pillar 2 driver. The stress scenario library in Module 3 is also directly relevant to how Pillar 2 add-ons are calibrated under SREP.

Which regulatory guidelines does the course align to?

EBA GL/2016/10 (SREP), EBA GL/2018/04 (ICAAP), EBA GL/2018/02 (IRRBB), EBA GL/2018/06 (concentration risk), CRD Articles 73 and 97, and the ECB SREP methodology published for significant institutions.

Does the implementation playbook need to be customised further or is it ready to use?

The playbook is hand-built for your role and institution context. It is structured for direct use in your next ICAAP cycle. If specific sections need further adaptation, reply by email and those adjustments are included.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.