Capital requirements
Observations on the differences between operational risk regulatory and economic capital
In this article, Niklas Hageback takes a practical look at the difficulties in reconciling regulatory and economic capital calculation in the discipline of operational risk.
PD estimates for Basel II
One of the main issues banks will have to face to comply with the new Basel II internal ratings-based approach is to prove that the long-run average probabilities of default they assign to their clients, which will be used as the basis for regulatory…
Quant of the year - Michael Gordy, US Federal Reserve Bank
Credit risk specialist who is highly influential with academics and practitioners alike.
Capital calculations
The latest Committee of Chief Risk Officers white paper offers capital adequacy guidelines for energy merchants. But why should energy firms perform these calculations? Glyn Holton asks whether the CCRO has missed the point
Sponsor's article > Credit risk catches up
When Basel II was first proposed in 1999, credit risk models lagged way behind market risk models. But that's changed, which means we need less prescriptive rules for determining credit risk capital.
Despite concerns, banks act on Basel II
Jörg Behrens and Peter Davis of the Ernst & Young Global Financial Services Risk Management Practice, present the results of a global survey of financial services managers'opinions about the future of the Basel II process and its effects on their…
A capital adequacy primer
A summary of the Committee of Chief Risk Officers’ (CCRO) emerging guidelines on capital adequacy, by Cinergy’s Antonio Ligeralde, Kenneth Robinson of El Paso Merchant Energy and CCRO head Michael Smith
Economic capital versus regulatory capital – a market benchmark
Guido Giese sets out to provide a market benchmark for the relationship between economic andregulatory capital models currently used or developed across different financial institutions, andto analyse the market forces driving the development of economic…
Japan's four major banks post losses of $31bn for 2002
Japan's four largest banks have posted a combined ¥3.61 trillion ($30.9 billion) in losses for the 2002 financial year, following larger-than-expected losses in their cross-equity holdings amid slump in the country’s equity markets and their ongoing…
Sponsor's article > Is 8% for all seasons?
Considering the potential pro-cyclical impact of Basel II and the limited effectiveness of countervailing influences, David Rowe concludes that making the 8% ratio of capital-to-risk-adjusted-assets a discretionary policy variable should be part of the…
US FDIC produces second Basel analysis paper
The US's Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has published its second study of the Basel Accord revisions, titled Risk-based capital requirements for commercial lending: the impact of Basel II .
Random tranches
How should economic or regulatory capital be allocated to tranches of securitisations? The standard Basel conditional dependence calculations are complicated in this case by non-linearity effects and complex deal dependence. Here, Michael Gordy and David…
Random tranches
How should economic or regulatory capital be allocated to tranches of securitisations? The standard Basel conditional dependence calculations are complicated in this case by non-linearity effects and complex deal dependence. Here, Michael Gordy and David…
EU Parliamentary hearings raise a variety of issues
The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament held a public hearing on Tuesday, Febaruary 19, titled "Minimum Capital Requirements for Banks and Investment Firms (Basel II)".
Sponsor's article > Don't count on buffers
One possible mitigator of the pro-cyclical impact of risk-sensitive capital requirements would be counter-cyclical changes in capital buffers. Empirical evidence on this issue is scarce and a new regulatory capital regime could well induce a behavioural…
McDonough paints brave new world of bank regulation
Echoing remarks made earlier in the week, William McDonough, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, stressed that the results of the third Quantitative Impact Statement (QIS3) being compiled at the moment show that few changes will have to be…
FDIC plans series of Basel papers
The US-based Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has announced plans to issue a series of papers over the coming months that will analyse the impact that the revisions to the Basel II Accord will have on the US banking system.
Small firms welcome EU proposals
BRUSSELS - European investment firms welcomed the European Commission's decision to create a special regime for them in terms of the operational risk provisions of proposed new capital adequacy rules, according to trade bodies representing the firms.
Commission highlights weak points of op risk insurance
BRUSSELS - The European Commission highlighted in November major drawbacks to the use of operational risk insurance to reduce op risk capital charges, despite its readiness to explore a wider use of insurance than that proposed in the Basel II bank…
Basel II unlikely to cause marked cut in lending to emerging markets, says Bank of England
LONDON - The proposed Basel II bank accord seems unlikely to cause a marked contraction in lending to borrowers in emerging markets, even low quality borrowers, the Bank of England said today.
Letter to the editor of Risk : a response to Cosandey and Wolf’s Avoiding pro-cyclicality
Much has been written on the proposed changes to the Basel Accord (Basel II), and we have been surprised that the vast majority of both academic and practitioner literature focuses on the prescriptive regulatory approaches and formulas to calculate…
QIS 3 suggests Basel II op risk charges and insurance role
BASEL - The third Basel II quantitative impact study, or QIS 3, brings bankers up to date with the latest thinking of global banking regulators on the treatment of operational risk under the complex Basel II bank protective capital accord.
Avoiding pro-cyclicality
David Cosandey and Urs Wolf argue that, for small to medium-sized enterprises, Basel II is pro-cyclical because of a double-counting of the risks. They present two main directions for possible capital rules that would circumvent the pro-cyclicality…