The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Tuesday published its latest progress report on the implementation of the new capital adequacy framework for global banks, known as Basel III.
The report sets out a high-level view of the progress that various countries have made in implementing the new regime, which is to begin taking effect next year, but doesn’t have to be fully implemented until 2019.
For Canada, it notes that draft regulations have been published, but that final rules haven’t been published or adopted yet. Canadian banks were directed to meet the 7% common equity Tier 1 standard as of January 2013, it observes; and regulations for non-viability contingent capital, and transitioning for non-qualifying instruments, were published in 2011. Additionally, a comprehensive capital regulation guideline was issued for public comment on August 7.
The Basel Committee indicates that it believes that this disclosure will provide additional incentive for members to fully comply with agreements on the new regime. It updates the adoption status of not only Basel III, but also its predecessors, known as Basel II and Basel 2., for each country as of the end of September; and follows previous reports, which were published in October 2011 and April 2012.
While this report focuses on the timely adoption of Basel III rules, the committee is also reviewing the consistency of various national regimes with the Basel III rules; and, ensuring the consistency of outcomes (focusing initially on risk-weighted assets). It recently published a report looking at the consistency of the final rules in Japan, and draft rules in the European Union and the United States, and it says that reviews of Canada (along with Australia, Brazil, China and Switzerland) will be conducted in 2013.