Product Description

Becoming operational in 2007, the Basel Capital Accord initiative is an effort to bring order to international capital markets and level the playing field for banks. Bottom line, officials hope to align capital with the risks faced by banks. However, despite the worldwide endorsements by regulators, the Accord may not be the "sure thing" everyone hopes it will be. It is very costly to implement and is not suitable for all banks. The question remains, though: Will it succeed? Gathering perspectives from the top minds in the field of international banking and finance, Gup's intriguing book The New Basel Capital Accord offers authoritative, provocative, and practical discussion and analysis of the impact of the Accord and discusses new opportunities for regulatory arbitrage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1038533 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 480 pages

Review
The Basel Committee has produced an incredibly complex document that I fear if implemented in the U.S. will result in a severe competitive imbalance for midsize and small U.S. banks competing with large multinational institutions. I urge all bankers to become intimately familiar with Basel II so that they may be aware of its potential to permanently distort the efficient and competitive banking system we so highly prize in the U.S.

The New Basel Capital Accord will have an impact on all of the U.S. banks, regardless of size. It should create a new wave of risk management techniques and technology to help supplement lending practices in this country’s banking industry. Benton Gup has assembled some of the leading thinkers in international banking to examine Basel II and what it really means for the banking community.

Customer Reviews

A Good Read!
This collection of articles and academic studies varies widely in tone and readability, but provides a much-needed critical look at the new Basel Capital Accord (Basel II). This international agreement on bank capital standards, scheduled to replace the 1988 Basel Capital Accord (Basel I) in 2006, will directly affect 10 to 20 of the biggest banks in the U.S., but may have a ripple effect on smaller institutions. The expert authors gathered here agree that Basel I, though ground-breaking and necessary, was too simplistic. However, the solutions proposed by Basel II create new problems in addition to solving old ones. Just as Basel I did not prevent the worldwide financial crises of the late 1980s and early 1990s, new problems are already arising that are not adequately addressed by Basel II. The new accord is an important step, but may best be understood as an evolving process rather than a set of ironclad rules. We recommend this book to bank regulators, managers of large banks and anyone else with a vested interest in international banking standards.