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Basel Committee Secretary General Indicates Willingness to Fine-Tune Basel Rules to Reduce Reg Burden

Basel Committee Secretary General William Coen indicated in recent public remarks that the Basel Committee is willing to fine-tune its international standards to reduce unintended regulatory burdens. Mr. Coen's remarks were made at the 2017 Institute of International Finance's Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, DC.

Secretary Coen confirmed that “there is likely to be a period during which no further major policy initiatives will be undertaken” by the Basel Committee once the Committee finalizes the rest of their Basel III-related rulemakings: (a) Revisions to the Standardised Approach for credit risk; (b) Standardised Measurement Approach for operational risk; (c) Reducing variation in credit risk-weighted assets – constraints on the use of internal model approaches; and (d) Revisions to the Basel III leverage ratio framework.

Toward the end of the remarks Secretary Coen implies that since the Basel Committee is not certain exactly certain how the new Basel III standards will work in practice (since phase-in is technically in January 2018 for most Basel III rule), the Committee will be open to fin-tuning the standards if they turn out to have unintended consequences.

Also included are comments from Svein Anderson, Secretary General of the Financial Stability Board on a ongoing research project on the effects of reform that, once finalized, "will be an evidence-based starting point for discussing potential deregulatory changes especially with respect to lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and long-term financing." 

The entire update can be viewed here. WOCCU will continue to monitor and engage on these and other issues as they progress.  

Tags
Bank of International Settlements, Basel