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Basel II

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Jump to: navigation, search Basel II Bank for International Settlements Basel Accords - Basel I Basel II Background Banking Monetary policy - Central bank Risk - Risk management Regulatory capital Tier 1 - Tier 2 Pillar 1: Regulatory Capital Credit risk Standardized - IRB Approach F-IRB - A-IRB PD - LGD - EAD Operational risk Basic - Standardized - AMA Market risk Duration - Value at risk Pillar 2: Supervisory Review Economic capital Liquidity risk - Legal risk Pillar 3: Market Disclosure Disclosure Business and Economics Portal

Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The purpose of Basel II, which was initially published in June 2004, is to create an international standard that banking regulators can use when creating regulations about how much capital banks need to put aside to guard against the types of financial and operational risks banks face while maintaining sufficient consistency so that this does not become a source of competitive inequality amongst internationally active banks. Advocates of Basel II believe that such an international standard can help protect the international financial system from the types of problems that might arise should a major bank or a series of banks collapse. In theory, Basel II attempted to accomplish this by setting up risk and capital management requirements designed to ensure that a bank holds capital reserves appropriate to the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending and investment practices. Generally speaking, these rules mean that the greater risk to which the bank is exposed, the greater the amount of capital the bank needs to hold to safeguard its solvency and overall economic stability.

Contents
[hide]

1 Objective 2 The accord in operation o 2.1 The first pillar o 2.2 The second pillar o 2.3 The third pillar 3 Recent chronological updates o 3.1 September 2005 update o 3.2 November 2005 update o 3.3 July 2006 update o 3.4 November 2007 update o 3.5 July 16, 2008 update o 3.6 January 16, 2009 update o 3.7 July 89, 2009 update 4 Basel II and the regulators o 4.1 Implementation progress 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Objective
The final version aims at: 1. Ensuring that capital allocation is more risk sensitive;

2. Enhance disclosure requirements which will allow market participants to assess the capital adequacy of an institution; 3. Ensuring that credit risk, operational risk and market risk are quantified based on data and formal techniques; 4. Attempting to align economic and regulatory capital more closely to reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage. While the final accord has largely addressed the regulatory arbitrage issue, there are still areas where regulatory capital requirements will diverge from the economic capital. Basel II has largely left unchanged the question of how to actually define bank capital, which diverges from accounting equity in important respects. The Basel I definition, as modified up to the present, remains in place.

[edit] The accord in operation


Basel II uses a "three pillars" concept (1) minimum capital requirements (addressing risk), (2) supervisory review and (3) market discipline. The Basel I accord dealt with only parts of each of these pillars. For example: with respect to the first Basel II pillar, only one risk, credit risk, was dealt with in a simple manner while market risk was an afterthought; operational risk was not dealt with at all.

[edit] The first pillar


The first pillar deals with maintenance of regulatory capital calculated for three major components of risk that a bank faces: credit risk, operational risk, and market risk. Other risks are not considered fully quantifiable at this stage. The credit risk component can be calculated in three different ways of varying degree of sophistication, namely standardized approach, Foundation IRB and Advanced IRB. IRB stands for "Internal Rating-Based Approach". For operational risk, there are three different approaches - basic indicator approach or BIA, standardized approach or TSA, and the internal measurement approach (an advanced form of which is the advanced measurement approach or AMA). For market risk the preferred approach is VaR (value at risk). As the Basel 2 recommendations are phased in by the banking industry it will move from standardised requirements to more refined and specific requirements that have been developed for each risk category by each individual bank. The upside for banks that do develop their own bespoke risk measurement systems is that they will be rewarded with potentially lower risk capital requirements. In future there will be closer links between the concepts of economic profit and regulatory capital.

Credit Risk can be calculated by using one of three approaches: 1. Standardised Approach 2. Foundation IRB (Internal Ratings Based) Approach 3. Advanced IRB Approach The standardized approach sets out specific risk weights for certain types of credit risk. The standard risk weight categories used under Basel 1 were 0% for government bonds, 20% for exposures to OECD Banks, 50% for first line residential mortgages and 100% weighting on consumer loans and unsecured commercial loans. Basel II introduced a new 150% weighting for borrowers with lower credit ratings. The minimum capital required remained at 8% of risk weighted assets, with Tier 1 capital making up not less than half of this amount. Banks that decide to adopt the standardised ratings approach must rely on the ratings generated by external agencies. Certain banks used the IRB approach as a result.

[edit] The second pillar


The second pillar deals with the regulatory response to the first pillar, giving regulators much improved 'tools' over those available to them under Basel I. It also provides a framework for dealing with all the other risks a bank may face, such as systemic risk, pension risk, concentration risk, strategic risk, reputational risk, liquidity risk and legal risk, which the accord combines under the title of residual risk. It gives banks a power to review their risk management system. Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP) is the result of Pillar II of Basel II accords

[edit] The third pillar


This pillar aims to complement the minimum capital requirements and supervisory review process by developing a set of disclosure requirements which will allow the market participants to gauge the capital adequacy of an institution. Market discipline supplements regulation as sharing of information facilitates assessment of the bank by others including investors, analysts, customers, other banks and rating agencies which leads to good corporate governance. The aim of pillar 3 is to allow market discipline to operate by requiring institutions to disclose details on the scope of application, capital, risk exposures, risk assessment processes and the capital adequacy of the institution. It must be consistent with how the senior management including the board assess and manage the risks of the institution. When market participants have a sufficient understanding of a banks activities and the controls it has in place to manage its exposures, they are better able to distinguish between banking

organisations so that they can reward those that manage their risks prudently and penalise those that do not. These disclosures are required to be made at least twice a year, except qualitative disclosures providing a summary of the general risk management objectives and policies which can be made annually. Institutions are also required to create a formal policy on what will be disclosed, controls around them along with the validation and frequency of these disclosures. In general, the disclosures under Pillar 3 apply to the top consolidated level of the banking group to which the Basel II framework applies.

[edit] Recent chronological updates


[edit] September 2005 update
On September 30, 2005, the four US Federal banking agencies (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of Thrift Supervision) announced their revised plans for the U.S. implementation of the Basel II accord. This delays implementation of the accord for US banks by 12 months.[1]

[edit] November 2005 update


On November 15, 2005, the committee released a revised version of the Accord, incorporating changes to the calculations for market risk and the treatment of double default effects. These changes had been flagged well in advance, as part of a paper released in July 2005.[2]

[edit] July 2006 update


On July 4, 2006, the committee released a comprehensive version of the Accord, incorporating the June 2004 Basel II Framework, the elements of the 1988 Accord that were not revised during the Basel II process, the 1996 Amendment to the Capital Accord to Incorporate Market Risks, and the November 2005 paper on Basel II: International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework. No new elements have been introduced in this compilation. This version is now the current version.[3]

[edit] November 2007 update


On November 1, 2007, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (U.S. Department of the Treasury) approved a final rule implementing the advanced approaches of the Basel II Capital Accord. This rule establishes regulatory and supervisory expectations for credit risk, through the Internal Ratings Based Approach (IRB), and operational risk, through the Advanced Measurement Approach (AMA), and articulates enhanced standards for the supervisory review of capital adequacy and public disclosures for the largest U.S. banks.[4]

[edit] July 16, 2008 update

On July 16, 2008 the federal banking and thrift agencies (the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision) issued a final guidance outlining the supervisory review process for the banking institutions that are implementing the new advanced capital adequacy framework (known as Basel II). The final guidance, relating to the supervisory review, is aimed at helping banking institutions meet certain qualification requirements in the advanced approaches rule, which took effect on April 1, 2008. [5]

[edit] January 16, 2009 update


For public consultation, a series of proposals to enhance the Basel II framework was announced by the Basel Committee. It releases a consultative package that includes: the revisions to the Basel II market risk framework; the guidelines for computing capital for incremental risk in the trading book; and the proposed enhancements to the Basel II framework.[6]

[edit] July 89, 2009 update


A final package of measures to enhance the three pillars of the Basel II framework and to strengthen the 1996 rules governing trading book capital was issued by the newly expanded Basel Committee. These measures include the enhancements to the Basel II framework, the revisions to the Basel II market-risk framework and the guidelines for computing capital for incremental risk in the trading book.[7]

[edit] Basel II and the regulators


One of the most difficult aspects of implementing an international agreement is the need to accommodate differing cultures, varying structural models, and the complexities of public policy and existing regulation. Banks senior management will determine corporate strategy, as well as the country in which to base a particular type of business, based in part on how Basel II is ultimately interpreted by various countries' legislatures and regulators. To assist banks operating with multiple reporting requirements for different regulators according to geographic location, there are several software applications available. These include capital calculation engines and extend to automated reporting solutions which include the reports required under COREP/FINREP. For example, U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila Bair explained in June 2007 the purpose of capital adequacy requirements for banks, such as the accord: There are strong reasons for believing that banks left to their own devices would maintain less capitalnot morethan would be prudent. The fact is, banks do benefit from implicit and explicit government safety nets. Investing in a bank is perceived as a safe bet. Without proper capital regulation, banks can operate in the marketplace with little or no capital. And governments and deposit insurers end up holding the bag, bearing much of the risk and cost of failure. History shows this problem is very real as we saw with the U.S. banking and S & L crisis in the late 1980s and 1990s. The final bill for

inadequate capital regulation can be very heavy. In short, regulators can't leave capital decisions totally to the banks. We wouldn't be doing our jobs or serving the public interest if we did.[8]

[edit] Implementation progress


Regulators in most jurisdictions around the world plan to implement the new accord, but with widely varying timelines and use of the varying methodologies being restricted. The United States' various regulators have agreed on a final approach.[9] They have required the Internal Ratings-Based approach for the largest banks, and the standardized approach will be available for smaller banks.[10] In India, Reserve Bank of India has implemented the Basel II standardized norms on 31 March 2009 and is moving to internal ratings in credit and AMA norms for operational risks in banks. Existing RBI norms for banks in India (as of September 2010): Common equity (incl of buffer): 3.6%(Buffer Basel 2 requirement requirements are zero.); Tier 1 requirement: 6%. Total Capital : 9 % of risk weighted assets. Basel III asks for those ratios as 7-8.5%(4.5% +2.5%(conservation buffer) + 02.5%(seasonal buffer)) and 8.5-11% for tier 1 cap and 10.5 to 13.5 for total capital (Proposed Basel III Guidelines: A Credit Positive for Indian Banks) In response to a questionnaire released by the Financial Stability Institute (FSI), 95 national regulators indicated they were to implement Basel II, in some form or another, by 2015.[11] The European Union has already implemented the Accord via the EU Capital Requirements Directives and many European banks already report their capital adequacy ratios according to the new system. All the credit institutions adopted it by 2008. Australia, through its Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, implemented the Basel II Framework on 1 January 2008

Basel II Capital Accord (Basel II)


Basel II Information: 794 Basel II Resources 0 Basel II News Headlines 394 Basel II White Papers 0 Basel II Events 14 Basel II Products/Services 327 Basel II Jobs Basel II, also called The New Accord (correct full name is the International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards - A Revised Framework) is the second Basel Accord and represents recommendations by bank supervisors and central bankers from the 13 countries making up the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) to revise the international standards for measuring the adequacy of a bank's capital. It was created to promote greater consistency in the way banks and banking regulators approach risk management across national borders. The Bank for International Settlements (often confused with the BCBS) supplies the secretariat for the BCBS and is not itself the BCBS.

History An earlier accord, Basel I, adopted in 1988, is now widely viewed as outmoded as it is risk insensitive and can easily be circumvented by regulatory arbitrage. The Basel II deliberations began in January 2001, driven largely by concern about the arbitrage issues that develop when regulatory capital requirements diverge from accurate economic capital calculations. With the first draft (called Consultative Paper 1) published in June 1999, further consultative papers followed together with a large quantity of other releases, Quantitative Impact Studies Nos. 2, 3 and 4, and papers, a final version was issued in June 2004, with a minor revision released in November 2005. In June 2006 a Comprehensive version was published including all Basel regulations up to this date. Implementation of the Accord is expected by 2008 in many of the over 100 countries currently using the Basel I accord. The final version aims at: Ensuring that capital allocation is more risk sensitive; Separating operational risk from credit risk, and quantifying both;

Attempting to align economic and regulatory capital more closely to reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage. While the final accord has largely addressed the regulatory arbitrage issue, there are still areas where regulatory capital requirements will diverge from the economic. Basel II has largely left unchanged the question of how to actually define bank capital, which diverges from accounting equity in important respects. The Basel I definition, as modified up to the present, remains in place

The Accord In Operation Basel II uses a "three pillars" concept - (1) minimum capital requirements; (2) supervisory review; and (3) market discipline - to promote greater stability in the financial system. The Basel I accord only dealt with parts of each of these pillars. For example: of the key pillar one risk, credit risk, was dealt with in a simple manner and market risk was an afterthought. Operational risk was not dealt with at all.

The First Pillar The first pillar provides improved risk sensitivity in the way that capital requirements are calculated for three major components of risk that a bank faces: credit risk, operational risk and market risk. In turn, each of these components can be calculated in two or three ways of varying sophistication. Other risks are not considered fully quantifiable at this stage. Technical terms in the more sophisticated measures of market risk include VaR (Value at Risk), EL (Loss function) whose components are PD (Probability of Default), LGD (Loss Given Default), and EAD (Exposure At Default). Calculation of these components requires advanced data collection and sophisticated risk management techniques.

The Second Pillar The second pillar deals with the regulatory response to the first pillar, giving regulators much improved 'tools' over those available to them under Basel I. It also provides a framework for dealing with all the other risks a bank may face, such as

name risk, liquidity risk and legal risk, which the accord combines under the title of residual risk.

The Third Pillar The third pillar greatly increases the disclosures that the bank must make. This is designed to allow the market to have a better picture of the overall risk position of the bank and to allow the counterparties of the bank to price and deal appropriately. September 2005 update On September 30, 2005, the four US Federal banking agencies (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of Thrift Supervision) announced their revised plans for the U.S. implementation of the Basel II accord. This delays implementation of the accord for US banks by 12 months.

November 2005 update On November 15, 2005, the committee released a revised version of the Accord, incorporating changes to the calculations for market risk and the treatment of double default effects. These changes had been flagged well in advance, as part of a paper released in July 2005. July 2006 update On July 4, 2006, the committee released a comprehensive version of the Accord, incorporating the June 2004 Basel II Framework, the elements of the 1988 Accord that were not revised during the Basel II process, the 1996 Amendment to the Capital Accord to Incorporate Market Risks, and the November 2005 paper on Basel II: International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework. No new elements have been introduced in this compilation. This version is now the current version.

Basel II and the Regulators One of the most difficult aspects of implementing an international agreement is the need to accommodate differing cultures, varying structural models, and the complexities of public policy and existing regulation. Banks senior management will determine corporate strategy as well as the country in which to base a particular type of business-based in part on how Basel II is ultimately interpreted by various countries' legislatures and regulators. To assist banks operating with multiple reporting requirements for different

regulators according to geographic location, there are several software applications available. These include capital calculation engines and extend to automated reporting solutions which include the reports required under COREP/FINREP

Implementation Progress Regulators in most jurisdictions around the world plan to implement the new Accord - but with widely varying timelines and use of the varying methodologies being restricted. The United States of America's various regulators are yet (October 2006) to agree on a final approach, see Basel IA for a discussion. In response to a questionnaire released by the Financial Stability Institute (FSI)[4], 95 national regulators indicated they were to implement Basel II, in some form or another, by 2015.

The future Work is apparently already underway on Basel III, at least in a preliminary sense. The goals of this project are to refine the definition of bank capital, quantify further classes of risk and to further improve the sensitivity of the risk measures.

Above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Basel II".

Use the Basel II Regulations section to find out more about the Basel II law, violation and penalties for non-compliance with the act. The Basel II Resources section can be used to view the free resources for Basel II security and other important compliance areas. The Basel II Events section will help you to find ideal training, certifications, webinars and conferences suited to your needs. The Basel II White Paper section will help you to find best White Papers available on the Internet from different compliance vendors. The most useful section of Basel II Products and Services Vendors will help you find compliance software, consultants and service providers to help you become Basel II Compliant.

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