Thursday, September 8, 2011

Banks Too Weak for Basel III?

. Thursday, September 8, 2011

It looks like many might be, especially in Europe:

Banking regulators are preparing to relax the new rules requiring banks to hold more liquid assets to be prepared for a new funding crisis, writes the Financial Times. ... 
A new report by JPMorgan estimates that 28 European banks showed a liquidity deficit of 493 billion euro billion at the end of last year. 
Only seven of the 28 banks tested comply with the  new standards, French banks being among the least prepared. In fact, JPMorgan analysts concluded that the requirements of liquidity for the banks must hold sufficient assets, easily sold to meet a 30-day-long funding crisis, will affect most sectors, and will cost about 12% of the average European banks earnings of 2012.
We've written a lot about the competitive nature of Basel III, and especially how American banks tend to have higher capital and liquidity ratios than many of their European counterparts. Basel III was really hard on European (and Japanese) banks, and it looks like many of them won't be able to meet their obligations in a timely manner, especially if the European debt situation deteriorates. And, of course, if European banks are allowed to defect from their Basel obligations then pressure will be placed on the US and other governments to allow their banks to do the same.

This is worth keeping an eye on.

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Banks Too Weak for Basel III?
 

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