CRD challenges just beginning, say experts

LONDON – Regulators and industry executives patted themselves on the back for accomplishing the swift passage of the EU’s Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), which implements Basel II in the European Union. However, all noted that the ‘real’ work on implementing Basel II – and perhaps some of the greatest challenges – are yet to be faced.

At a British Bankers’ Association conference in London in mid-October, Peter Middleton, president of the association, set the tone in his keynote address by saying: "One plea that I’d like to make is that the same level of cooperation that took place in the creating of the directive itself goes into implementing it."

Middleton and others are concerned because although the CRD itself is a breakthrough in communication and cooperation between the industry and the EU, now the directive must be