On June 4, 2021, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision met to cover the following issues related to the effect of Covid-19 on the current banking system:

• Discussion on “Covid-19 risks to banking system, reviews provisioning practices and stresses importance of using capital and liquidity buffers.
• Review of interim report evaluating impact of Basel framework during Covid-19.”
• Agreement “to hold public consultation on prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures.”

While the world is beginning to re-open, the Committee cautioned that banks and supervisors should still remain watchful for Covid-19 risks and vulnerabilities by using, among other things, “Basel III capital and liquidity buffers to absorb shocks and maintain lending to creditworthy households and businesses”, and strengthening operational resilience. The committee also evaluated post-crisis reforms by reviewing an interim report, which gave a preliminary assessment of the impact that Basel III standards had during the pandemic. Cryptoassets market developments were also covered during the meeting, as well as “next steps in developing its prudential treatment for banks' cryptoasset exposures.”

More information on the June 4^th Basel Committee meeting is available here.