Newsletter September 2013: Brazil adopts Basel III; Qatar consults on hybrids

BRASILIA/DOHA – The central bank of Brazil announced in August that the Basel III capital adequacy framework will be adopted in its national financial system beginning October. The new international standard roughly triples the minimum amount of equity capital that banks around the world must hold to help them to withstand financial crises such as that of 2007-09. Under the new framework, the minimum equity capital ratio is set at 7%.