Alarm over declining capital markets competitiveness is raised in a new report. “Quick and decisive adjustments” needed. By Melvyn Westlake

Top regulator hints at changes to implementation timetable for market risk rules. Bankers optimistic of winning more revisions By Melvyn Westlake

WASHINGTON – The US has set May 29 as the deadline for comment on the guidance issued in early February by the federal banking supervisory agencies on their proposals for implementing the controversial Basel II bank capital rules.

WASHINGTON – Top US banking supervisor Susan Schmidt Bies urged banks in their comments on the Basel II NPR to go beyond criticism of what has been proposed and specify their preferred solution, including alternative technical methodologies, language and frameworks.

The supervisory guidance, which was issued jointly by the federal banking supervisory agencies in mid-February and formally gazetted in the Federal Register, the US government’s official journal, on February 28, relates to requirements for calculating risk-based, so-called pillar 1 regulatory capital under the advanced approaches to measuring credit and operational risks in the Basel II framework. The latest guidance updates and expands on earlier guidance issued in 2003 and 2004.

The agencies recognise the ambiguity of some aspects of the NPR proposals that was pointed out recently by a Congressional watchdog body, Bies said.

LONDON – The US timetable for implementing the Basel II capital rules, already delayed by a year to 2009, must not be allowed to slip any further, says a major global banking industry body.

CHICAGO – Proposed US changes to the Basel II accord would undermine the comparability of capital requirements across different jurisdictions, says LaSalle Bank Corporation in a February comment letter to US regulators.

Sharp and glaring differences between the Federal Reserve and the FDIC over US implementation of Basel II were revealed in late February. Below are excerpts from the speeches of Fed governor Susan Bies and FDIC chief Sheila Bair at a conference in New York.

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