Basel III may be second-best outcome, admits Coen

Top regulators and economists warned of flaws in the Basel framework and said tougher requirements could be warranted, during a meeting of central bankers and supervisors last week.

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision secretary-general William Coen admitted Basel III was the product of consensus-building, and therefore “may not necessarily reflect a theoretically ‘first best’ outcome”.

“Put differently, some aspects of the framework, whether the overall calibration or the risk weights for