Letter to the editor: Forbearance measures needed for Basel II

From Tom Wilde, director, risk management, Credit Suisse First Boston

Wilson Ervin and I published an article in Risk last year on the danger that the Basel II proposed reforms of bank capital will lead to procyclicality, ie, pressure on banks to sell assets or raise capital at inopportune times, due to the risk sensitivity of Basel II capital requirements. We remain very concerned that, unless some flexibility is built into Basel II, there will be no way for regulators to ‘forbear’ when necessary, ie, to flex capital requirements when, for example, banks can