G
Guns Guns Guns
Guest
The Federal Reserve released a proposal to enact an international agreement on higher capital standards for banks, known as Basel III, that largely rejects pleas by the U.S. banking industry to soften parts of the new standards.
U.S. banks had pushed the Fed to allow them to more heavily count mortgage servicing rights and the unrealized gains and losses of certain securities toward their capital requirements than allowed by Basel III, but the U.S. central bank's draft rule closely follows the international agreement.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and the Comptroller of the Currency are expected to approve the proposal soon as well.
The Basel agreement is the cornerstone of efforts by international regulators following the 2007-2009 financial crisis to make sure the global banking system is more resilient.
The new standards would force banks to rely more on equity than debt to fund themselves, so that they are able to better withstand significant losses.
The accord, which is to be phased in from 2013 through 2019, will require banks to maintain top-quality capital equivalent to 7 percent of their risk-bearing assets, about three times what they are required to hold under existing rules.
The biggest banks, however, have balked...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47726367