US Basel III Final Rule on banks’ capital requirements: A different-size-fits-all approach

The US Basel III Final Rule was issued by the Banking Agencies (Fed, OCC and FDIC) in July 2013. The Rule implements the international Basel III framework defined by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and represents a major overhaul of the US banks’ capital requirements, since the adoption o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rainer Masera
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Associazione Economia civile 2013-12-01
Series:PSL Quarterly Review
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ojs.uniroma1.it/index.php/PSLQuarterlyReview/article/view/11541/11408
Description
Summary:The US Basel III Final Rule was issued by the Banking Agencies (Fed, OCC and FDIC) in July 2013. The Rule implements the international Basel III framework defined by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and represents a major overhaul of the US banks’ capital requirements, since the adoption of Basel I in 1992. The Rule incorporates provisions contained in the Dodd-Frank Act (2010). The purpose of this note is to highlight some key specific features of the US standard. In particular, it is argued that the US Rule introduces, de facto, a modular approach according to size and complexity and places great emphasis on leverage requirements for systemic banks, to avoid a mere backstop character of the non-risk-based capital ratios. These two features stand in contrast with the EU transposition of Basel III (CRR/CADIV).
ISSN:2037-3635
2037-3643