Basel III
BIS committee hails Basel III progress
In report to G-20, the Basel committee says member countries are making ‘considerable progress’ implementing Basel III, despite long delays; laments ‘excessive’ variation in RWAs
Haldane issues call to arms in fight against regulatory complexity
Bank of England executive director warns incremental approach to regulation papers over cracks and leads to a burdensome, ineffectual patchwork of rules
FDIC vice-chair says Basel III capital requirements provide illusion of safety
Thomas Hoenig says capital ratios allow banks to leverage up while outwardly appearing safe; warns systemically important banks have much worse leverage ratios than smaller institutions
Asia corporates unfairly ‘penalised’ by CVA capital charge
The move by European authorities to exempt European banks from holding CVA capital should be matched by regulators in Asia, according to senior bankers in the region
Kazakh banks should go beyond Basel III, says central bank
Financial stability report calls for banks to boost capital levels above Basel III requirements; encourages largest banks to clean up balance sheets and lend more
Basel III insufficient for ‘huge’ Swedish banking system, says Ingves
Sveriges Riksbank governor says Sweden must go ‘over and above’ capital and liquidity standards in Basel III; identifies household debt and bank market-funding as core weaknesses
BIS finds Singapore compliant with Basel III
Consistency assessment finds Singapore compliant in 12 areas and ‘largely compliant’ in remaining two; report notes 46 deviations were initially identified, but many were addressed during the review
Higher Basel III pricing deters Asian banks from issuing new Tier II capital
Banks issued debt before the end-of-2012 deadline for Basel II capital, lessening their refinancing requirements for this year
Largest banks $270bn below Basel III core capital limits
Basel Committee finds banks would have missed CET1 requirement under Basel III by $270 billion in June 2012; IMF’s Lagarde condemns ‘uneven implementation’ of rules
Central bankers split over whether 3% leverage ratio is enough
Majority of participants in CentralBanking.com poll support implementation of Basel III; readers divided over questions of raising leverage ratio
Basel Committee will assess whether capital rules need simplifying
Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basel Committee, says simplicity is "desirable" but it is too soon to judge whether capital rules are overly complex
Goodhart argues bail-outs are better than bail-ins
LSE panel highlights unintended consequences of new regulation, in areas including bail-ins, capital requirements and banking separation; Charles Goodhart says investors will not buy bail-inable debt
Italy’s Visco concerned by ‘blind backlash’ against financial firms
Bank of Italy governor issues reminder that finance does bring some benefits, but says pre-crisis ‘benign neglect’ by regulators was foolish
De Larosière slams US protectionism and EU Solvency II rules
Former IMF and Banque de France chief Jacques de Larosière says the introduction of a swathe of new regulations in Europe – by contrast to the US – may jeopardise the continent’s growth
European legislators agree sweeping rules for banking sector reform
European Parliament and Commission agree CRD IV package to tighten capital rules, increase bank transparency and curb bankers' bonuses
The trade-off between bank regulation and economic growth
The pendulum has swung firmly in favour of financial services regulatory reform. But economic growth is likely to suffer – particularly in Europe – unless some of the rules are changed
Spanish governor unimpressed by banks’ capital requirement shortcut
Luis Linde unhappy that European banks have increased the CET1 ratios by deleveraging; concerned about impact of regulatory overhaul on credit and growth
Byres hints at Basel Committee rethink on risk-weight modelling
Secretary-general weighs challenges of balancing complexity and simplicity of capital requirements; outlines possible changes to banks’ risk modelling choices
Basel Committee seeks to eliminate principal risk from FX trades
New guidance encourages banks to use payment-versus-payment systems to smooth the settlement of foreign exchange transactions
RBI sees repo market development as necessary to meet Basel liquidity rules
India central bank views repo as an increasingly important market in the wake of Basel III implementation
Fed’s Tarullo lays out regulatory priorities for 2013
Federal Reserve governor highlights a number of regulatory efforts planned for the coming year; says US is ahead of its peers in introducing a bank resolution framework
SNB activates capital buffer in face of overheating mortgage market
Swiss National Bank applies 1% counter-cyclical capital buffer to mortgage lenders as imbalances in the real-estate market worsened in the second half of 2012
US politicians plot national impact study for Basel III
Basel III could face more delays in the US as legislators press for a national impact study
FDIC director backs Haldane on leverage ratio
Jeremiah Norton follows Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane in criticising Basel III’s risk-weighted assets, and says a higher leverage ratio would be a simple, effective solution