Basel II
A spanner in the works
The US and Germany are in a standoff over Basel II’s capital charge calculation for SME lending. Without a compromise this month, the issue threatens to derail implementation of the Accord and the European Directive.
A perfect rating
Profile
Balancing belief and science
Japan’s banks are protesting against Basel’s proposed operational risk capital charge. They claim their risk levels are much lower than those of banks from other countries, but there is little hard data available to back this claim up. Anthony Rowley…
Wrestling with Basel II
The revisions to the Basel Accord have enormous implications for Japan, a nation with a banking system still getting to grips with non-performing loans and the impact of mark-to market accounting rules. Anthony Rowley reports from Tokyo.
Unresolved Basel II issues include total capital and economic impact, says UK central banker
OXFORD, ENGLAND - The question of what should be the appropriate overall level of protective capital in the world’s banking system remains one of the unresolved issues of the Basel II banking accord, said deputy Bank of England governor David Clementi…
Banks still nervous about gross income as an op risk indicator
BASEL - Banks seem pleased with many aspects of the recent working paper on operational risk issued by global banking regulators, but are still nervous about some of the cross-border anomalies that could be thrown up by the use of gross income as a risk…
Basel regulators may scrap 90% IRB floor for credit risk
Global banking regulators will soon abandon their controversial 90%, two-year floor on the benefit banks could reap by moving to the advanced internal ratings based (IRB) technique for calculating capital charges against credit risk under the Basel II…
DrKW and Raft establish new op risk management standard
Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) and Raft International, the component-based software provider to the financial services industry, have jointly developed and deployed Radar, a near real-time global operational risk management…
Op risk capital charge difficult to devise in imperfect Basel II, says US central banker
NEW YORK - The lack of an agreed methodology and credible loss data has made it extremely difficult to devise an operational capital risk charge under the terms of the Basel II bank capital accord, a senior US central banker acknowledged in mid-October.
Basel II would mean banks less able to deal with NY attacks, US Senate told
WASHINGTON - The operational risk capital charge proposed by global banking regulators would create a "perverse incentive" against banks taking measures to cope with operational hazards such as the September 11 attacks in New York, the US Senate’s…
Basel moves on disclosure
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision recently announced two significant revisions to its new capital adequacy framework (new Basel Capital Accord or Basel II), which are set to have positive and far-reaching implications for the global banking…
Hong Kong banks set to struggle with Basel II
Many of Hong Kong’s banks could struggle to implement the Basel II capital adequacy accord because of their lack of sophisticated risk management systems, professional services firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu said in October.
Basic shortcomings
The Basel regulators have missed their chances with their latest op risk paper, argues Jacques Pézier.
Good in parts
Tony Blunden welcomes the Basel regulators’ latest thoughts on operational risk, but questions their continued emphasis on the past.
Insurers plan operational risk proposals for early November
LONDON - Leading insurance firms planned to have ready by early November their proposals for using operational risk insurance within the terms of the Basel II banking accord, insurance industry sources said as Operational Risk went to press.
Basel may scrap IRB floor
A US bank regulator has said the Basel Committee will soon abandon its controversial 90%, two-year floor on the benefit banks can reap by moving to the advanced internal ratings based (IRB) regulatory capital technique under the Basel II Capital Accord.
Irreconcilable differences
Model comparison
Accounting for error
A new discussion paper on operational risk has been published, but with many banks in Asia still struggling with non-performing loans, some bankers question the ability of troubled banks to cope with this charge. AsiaRisk investigates.
Banking on progress
A dizzying array of credit risk technology firms have set up shop in Asia in order to reap the rewards of the new Basel recommendations. But are Asia’s regional banks ready to implement these systems?
Preparing for the worst
Small and medium-sized banks in the US and Europe are bracing themselves for Basel II. Gallagher Polyn examines how these institutions plan to adapt to the new Accord.
Basel regulators cut op risk charge benchmark to 12%
BASEL - Global banking regulators formally acknowledged in late September some of the criticisms of their controversial proposal for an op risk capital charge. Their plan is to make large international banks set aside protective capital from 2005…
Basel regulators to study insurers' reaction to US attacks
BASEL - Bank regulators considering allowing op risk insurance a role in the proposed Basel II bank accord will study closely how the insurance industry deals with the massive insurance claims arising from the September 11 attacks in the US. So said…
EU welcomes Basel regulators' op risk paper
BRUSSELS - The European Commission, the ruling body of the European Union, welcomed the decision of global banking regulators to reduce the benchmark for an op risk capital charge to 12% from 20%, said a commission spokesman.