Overview
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.
Synopsis
Scheduled to implemented in December 2006, the New Basel Capital Accord (Basel II) has been formulated as a measure to address the perceived failings of the first Basel Accord in harmonizing international bank standards in order international banking stability. Gup (a member of the Academy of Financial Services and the American Finance Association) believes that less countries are likely to adopt Basel II because it is significantly more complex, contentious, and costly. In this volume he has collected 16 papers from people involved in international banking in order to examine some of the implications of Basel II. Among the topics addressed are issues of unequal capital competition; bank reporting discretion; failures in capital adequacy policies; and implications for Australian, Hungarian, and Japanese banking systems. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Editorials
From the Publisher
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.