Fear and moaning in last stages

Worried and sceptical. That about sums up the mindset of those given the task of implementing the Basel II capital Accord, at least the bankers, investment bankers, asset managers and others who responded to our recent survey about the Accord ( see article ). Only 28% of the respondents are “confident” that Basel II will be implemented by the end of 2006; 16.2% believe it will be implemented later.

There is little consensus on the cost of implementing the Accord. Nearly halfthe survey respondents said they did not know what it would cost. The costs associatedwith operational risk are also terra incognito. Forty-five per cent of respondentssaid they don’t know what implementation of the operational risk aspectsof the Accord will cost.

Much of the worries expressed in the survey - about operational risk data,infrastructure needs and increased regulatory scrutiny, for example -