Capital requirements
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…
Fed's Gordy criticises Basel II procyclicality adjustment
NEW YORK - The procyclicality ‘smoothing’ adjustment technique likely to form part of the Basel II capital Accord is sub-optimal, according to Michael Gordy, a senior economist in the research and statistics division of the Board of Governors of the…
Basel II regulators issue key QIS 3 survey
Global banking regulators said they launched their key survey today seeking information on how the Basel II bank capital accord aimed at making the world’s banking system safer would affect banks.
Op risk rules inadequate, says Isma professor
LONDON - The Basel II capital accord rules regarding operational risks for financial institutions are inadequate, Jacques Pézier, a visiting professor at Reading University’s Isma Centre, told delegates at a conference in London this morning.
UK expects EU countries to reopen Basel II arguments
LONDON – UK regulators expect that other European Union (EU) countries will try to reopen Basel II bank accord discussions within the EU framework, a senior UK supervisor said yesterday.
Single bank capital accord for all banks is impossible, says Basel Committee chief
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – Differences between banking systems make it impossible to conceive of a single bank protective capital accord that would work for all banks in all countries, the world’s top international banking regulator said today.
Australian capital/asset ratios consistent with credit ratings, says S&P
MELBOURNE – The capital to asset ratios of the four major Australian banks, as measured by credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s own approaches, are consistent with the banks’ double A ratings, S&P said today.
UK accepts large banks could use basic op risk approach
LONDON - The UK’s chief financial market watchdog said in July it accepted that a large international bank could use the basic indicator approach, the simplest of the three approaches to calculating operational risk capital charges proposed under the…
UK bankers fear capital floors higher under latest Basel II plans
The British Bankers' Association (BBA) is concerned that global banking regulators appear to have raised and expanded the application of the capital charges floor in the Basel II bank Accord, a BBA official said today.
Loss survey supports arguments against capital charges, say fund managers
London - The results of a survey by global banking regulators of banks’ operational loss experience support arguments against using capital charges as the main protection against operational losses in fund management and broker activities. This is the…
In search of clarity and focus
Greater precision is needed in defining operational risk, but the Basle regulators' latest thoughts are lost in generalities, says Jacques Pézier, in the final article of a three-part series.
Basel shortcomings: Danger lurks on the rocky road to Basel II
The Basel Accord proposals to define operational risk contain many fatal flaws, says Jacques Pézier. He argues that it would be better to focus management time on managing key risks than on developing op risk databases and measurement procedures.