FT Alphaville » Basel Committee http://ftalphaville.ft.com FT Alphaville - Market Commentary - FT.com Fri, 24 May 2013 18:38:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Banks told to sit down and shut up or else some of them will get ice cream and others won’t, which will indeed totally suck http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/04/25/1475902/banks-told-to-sit-down-and-shut-up-or-else-some-of-them-will-get-ice-cream-and-others-wont-which-will-indeed-totally-suck/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/04/25/1475902/banks-told-to-sit-down-and-shut-up-or-else-some-of-them-will-get-ice-cream-and-others-wont-which-will-indeed-totally-suck/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:42:10 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1475902

“One thing that I think would stand you in very good stead is to avoid lobbying – influencing policy is probably a better way to put it. We hear so much about fragmentation, but then the banks and trade associations discuss at great length trying to lower the standards.”

That’s William Coen, deputy secretary-general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, as quoted by Risk on Wednesday.

Continue reading: Banks told to sit down and shut up or else some of them will get ice cream and others won’t, which will indeed totally suck]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/04/25/1475902/banks-told-to-sit-down-and-shut-up-or-else-some-of-them-will-get-ice-cream-and-others-wont-which-will-indeed-totally-suck/feed/ 0 Today’s regulatory word of the day: “pre-funding” [updated] http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/18/1337832/todays-regulatory-word-of-the-day-pre-funding/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/18/1337832/todays-regulatory-word-of-the-day-pre-funding/#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:22:45 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1337832 On Friday, the FSA has published its feedback and responses to a review of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme funding model issued back in July. It’s long. Lucky for us then that we were looking for one thing and one thing only — the stance on “pre-funding”.

Pourquoi?

The revised Liquidity Coverage Ratio of course!

Continue reading: Today’s regulatory word of the day: “pre-funding” [updated]]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/18/1337832/todays-regulatory-word-of-the-day-pre-funding/feed/ 0 Decoding that Basel securitisation proposal, one annoying acronym at a time http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/20/1315212/decoding-that-basel-securitisation-proposal-one-annoying-acronym-at-a-time/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/20/1315212/decoding-that-basel-securitisation-proposal-one-annoying-acronym-at-a-time/#comments Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:19:28 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1315212 The financial crisis demonstrated how the treatment of securitisations under the Basel framework was some combination of delinquent and a massive enabler of rating agency (and bank) mis-modelling. No wonder then that it only took until July 2009 to get the duct tape out, i.e. release “enhancements” to Basel II, commonly known as “Basel 2.5″.

Now that the committee has had time to truly, madly, and deeply think it over, it’s time for… drumroll… a consultative document on which comment will be sought by March 15, 2013. Oh, it’s on now.

Continue reading: Decoding that Basel securitisation proposal, one annoying acronym at a time]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/20/1315212/decoding-that-basel-securitisation-proposal-one-annoying-acronym-at-a-time/feed/ 0 US banks add selves to pissed off list http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/17/1310812/us-banks-add-selves-to-pissed-off-list/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/17/1310812/us-banks-add-selves-to-pissed-off-list/#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:43:08 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1310812 Being cross about the Basel III liquidity ratio is so in season. One just can’t be seen dead smiling about it. It simply won’t do. Much better to join the other banks, and the ECB, in being all pouty about it. We’ll not even have the slightest smirk until the Basel Committee has agreed to loosen the criteria for eligible assets and made the outflow scenarios a lot less Beyond Thunderdome.

Continue reading: US banks add selves to pissed off list]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/17/1310812/us-banks-add-selves-to-pissed-off-list/feed/ 0 Basel III bunfight: Is this the beginning of the end? http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/05/03/986921/basel-iii-bunfight-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/05/03/986921/basel-iii-bunfight-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 17:00:07 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/?p=986921 On Wednesday, as FT Alphaville has already illustrated, European finance ministers failed to agree legislation that would enshrine Basel III bank capital rules into law. This despite all those involved having already agreed in principle to Basel III back in 2010.

So why the failure to agree?

Continue reading: Basel III bunfight: Is this the beginning of the end?]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/05/03/986921/basel-iii-bunfight-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end/feed/ 0 Basel III study demonstrates impact of getting rid of BS capital http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/17/964101/basel-iii-study-demonstrates-impact-of-getting-rid-of-bs-capital/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/17/964101/basel-iii-study-demonstrates-impact-of-getting-rid-of-bs-capital/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:17:18 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/?p=964101 Basel III is looming. There is no escape. Tougher capital requirements for banks are on the way.

But the phase-in doesn’t begin until next year, and the ramp-up process is long. Not until 2019 will Basel III be fully baked in.

Continue reading: Basel III study demonstrates impact of getting rid of BS capital]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/17/964101/basel-iii-study-demonstrates-impact-of-getting-rid-of-bs-capital/feed/ 0 The latest in regulation-induced innovation – Part 2 http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/11/957121/the-latest-in-regulation-induced-innovation-%e2%80%93-part-2/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/11/957121/the-latest-in-regulation-induced-innovation-%e2%80%93-part-2/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:50:21 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/?p=957121 In Part 1, we discussed the interest Spanish banks, and the likes of JP Morgan, have shown in securitisations that may lower their regulatory capital burdens by bundling up assets and selling the riskiest pieces of the resulting structures to investors.

Here, we look at another worrisome and expensive exposure on bank balance sheets, and discuss how the treatment of these deals has varied from regulator to regulator — something the Basel Committee has recently started to cast a critical eye on.

Continue reading: The latest in regulation-induced innovation – Part 2]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/11/957121/the-latest-in-regulation-induced-innovation-%e2%80%93-part-2/feed/ 0 The latest in regulation-induced innovation – Part 1 http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/11/956731/the-latest-in-regulation-induced-innovation-%e2%80%93-part-1/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/11/956731/the-latest-in-regulation-induced-innovation-%e2%80%93-part-1/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:35:17 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/?p=956731 Regulations set forth by the Basel Committee that govern the amount of capital that banks have to hold are meant to set a level playing field round the world.

Or at least, we thought harmonisation was the point.

Continue reading: The latest in regulation-induced innovation – Part 1]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/04/11/956731/the-latest-in-regulation-induced-innovation-%e2%80%93-part-1/feed/ 0 Barclays visits the securitisation BISTRO http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/17/836551/barclays-visits-the-securitisation-bistro/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/17/836551/barclays-visits-the-securitisation-bistro/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:20:48 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/?p=836551 FT Alphaville has outlined how securitisation is getting back to its roots lately, allowing banks to reduce capital holdings at a time when fresh capital is hard to come by.

Basically, they buy protection on slices of their own assets, paying out handsome coupons to hedge funds and other investors to take on the assets’ risk. Ergo, less capital needs to be held by the bank to back this risk.

Continue reading: Barclays visits the securitisation BISTRO]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/17/836551/barclays-visits-the-securitisation-bistro/feed/ 0 Back to the BISTRO for today’s securitisations — Part 1 http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/16/834661/back-to-the-bistro-for-todays-securitisations-%e2%80%94-part-1/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/16/834661/back-to-the-bistro-for-todays-securitisations-%e2%80%94-part-1/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:18:35 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/?p=834661 The airwaves are once again aflutter with tales of the “shadow banking” sector, owing to the chief of the relatively new Financial Stability Board.

As the FT’s Tracy Alloway also recently reported, the sector was already back to its pre-crisis size at the end of 2010 at a healthy $60,000bn of assets.

Continue reading: Back to the BISTRO for today’s securitisations — Part 1]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/16/834661/back-to-the-bistro-for-todays-securitisations-%e2%80%94-part-1/feed/ 0