Capital Adequacy: EU Claims Significant Progress on New Basel Capital Accord

The European Commission has announced that it is developing a proposal for a new capital requirements regime for the EU, in response to the emerging new international framework. The Commission is committed to the development of a new framework which is suitable to be applied to all banks in the EU, whatever their size, complexity or focus of activity. As an observer in the Basel process, The Commission considers that the new Basel agreement is on a firm path to delivering this objective. It welcomes the modernisation and increased risk-sensitivity of the Standard Approach, and strongly supports the proposal for a Foundation IRB Approach which should make this more advanced approach achievable for many banks within the EU. Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: ‘…I particularly welcome the participation of all EU Member States in the third impact assessment exercise which will decide the final calibration of the new framework. I encourage all Member States to ensure that they gather data which is fully representative of all their financial institutions. Better regulation and supervision of banks at the international and EU level will lead to more security for depositors.’

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