On 8 December 2011 the European Banking Authority (“EBA”) adopted a Recommendation on the creation of temporary capital buffers to restore market confidence to address the difficult situation in the EU banking system, especially with regard to the sovereign exposures, by restoring stability and confidence in the markets. The Recommendation was part of a suite of measures agreed at EU level. The Recommendation called on National Authorities to require banks included in the sample to strengthen their capital positions by building up an exceptional and temporary buffer such that their Core Tier 1 capital ratio reaches a level of 9% by the end of June 2012. In addition, banks were required to build up an exceptional and temporary capital buffer against sovereign debt exposures to reflect market prices as at the end of September 2011.