Basel Committee Returns To Spotlight

As summer draws to a close, and we're sorry to see it go, the first big event on the macro horizon for data professionals is the G20 summit in St. Petersburg on September 5–6. One small piece of the big picture at the summit is work on the Basel III regulatory reforms for banks' capital adequacy.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) reported to the G20 recently in advance of the summit that regulatory data collection must be improved to better understand risk-weighted assets that are a key element of capital adequacy.

With this latest news, it seems the BCBS is becoming more proactive in filling in gaps and otherwise articulating details of the Basel III rules. This began in June, when the BCBS forbade netting of collateral against derivatives exposures and required exposure calculations to include the amount of collateral in derivatives.

Where I once portrayed the BCBS as lax on Basel III, that continues to change. Watch for more from the Committee during the remainder of this year. There is still suspense in not knowing what other pronouncements it may make, and what their impact could be.