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Sept. 3, 2016

Breaking news

The Basel Committee on banking supervision issues regularly a monitoring report on the implementation of Basel III regulatory reforms.

In August 2016, the seventh issue was published by the Committee as to be taken into account for the upcoming G20 meeting: Implementation of Basel standards. A report to G20 Leaders on implementation of the Basel III regulatory reforms.

In this report, the Committee mesures how national systems gradually implement the prudential reforms they have informally elaborated in common. 

All the power derived from the Basel System stems indeed from the fact that it is concentrated; however, it still has to face a 'hard law' issue, as it is necessary to implement the reforms within the national systems in identical terms and in a constrained timeframe. 

The Committee indicates in its reports that some countries still face a number of issues regarding this implementation, whether these issues arise from the rules themselves or from the transposition period that the countries are given to implement them. Those same countries tend to justify themselves by saying that banks are to blame for these issues, since they report having trouble adjusting their information system as to satisfy the new requirements.

The Committee underlines the fact that this delay occurs in some countries whereas others are already compliant creates a situation of unfair 'jurisdiction' competition between them, which is all the more concerning since these national systems host international banks: "Delayed implementation may have implications for the level playing field, and puts unnecessary pressure on jurisdictions that have implemented the standards based on the agreed timelines. A concurrent implementation of global standards is all the more important, as many jurisdictions serve as hosts to internationally active banks.".

In order to improve an effective implementation of the whole system, the Committee proposed to implement instead a calculus method that would be less complex: "These proposals would constrain banks’ use of internal models and would reduce the complexity of the regulatory framework.".

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A few general observations can be drawn from this very specific Basel III issue underlined in the aforementioned report:

  • soft law needs at some point to get concrete (which is closely monitored since the rules do need to be implemented), otherwise it is not law at all;   
  • it is through implementation that the weight and the contours of common rules are actually being felt;
  • this situation is a good reminder of the fact that competing jurisdictions are an actual thing and a issue to deal with;
  • what is an argument based of complexity, or even impossibility, of the technical implementation of a requirement worth? 

This last question is crucial. Those who impose the requirement may consider that the non-enforcement for technical reasons cannot be accepted!footnote-68. Here, however, maybe since it is not a formal requirement as this is all soft law, and since there is a good communication between the supervisor and the executing agent (who is, at the same time, the one that is subject to the requirement, the one who elaborated it and the one who proposes to review it as to make it less complex).

Cass. R. Sunstein's last book was entitled Simpler. French Conseil d’État  (French administrative supreme court) conducts thorough work on the quality of laws and on their simplicity, both qualities that probably go hand in hand. The Basel Committee steps in the same directions...

Updated: Sept. 3, 2012 (Initial publication: Aug. 29, 2012)

Breaking news

Rating agencies are in the eye of the cyclone, due to the ambiguity of the situation: by their status, they are simple operators but by their role are almost regulators. Governing the markets, the banks can not for the moment dispense with them. However, the rating market is oligopolistic. On August 1, 2012, the association of German public banks complained that the prices practiced by rating agencies are monopoly pricing. What is remarkable is that this a complaint is made not to the European Competition Authority, the Commission, but to the European Banking Authority (EBA). Thus, regulation is a tool and a wider tool more than is the competition.

Updated: Aug. 28, 2012 (Initial publication: July 22, 2012)

Breaking news

The Libor is the rate of the interbank market practised in the United Kingdom. A large number of financial operations are based on it. So far, its daily development is grounded on a declaratory system on the part of the banks. Since the conviction of Barclays on June 27, 2012 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the general suspicion that a very great banks have contributed to manipulations of the Libor, the relevance of the system itself is questioned. While investigations and prosecutions was put in place for the past in all countries, British Government give to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) study of reform of a Libor, either to detach itself from a declaratory system, or to keep an eye on it and internalize effective sanctions. The report, which will serve as a basis for the reform will be made the end of September 2012.

Updated: April 28, 2011 (Initial publication: April 28, 2011)

Authors

Chairman of the Board of Directors of KPMG S.A. (KPMG France). Jean-Luc Decornoy graduated from the ESSEC and is also an accountant and auditor. Jean-Luc Decornoy became part of KPMG in 1977. He became a partner in 1988. He was nominated Director-General in 1993, and has been the Chairman of the Board since 2001. (...)

Updated: Sept. 10, 2012 (Initial publication: Sept. 1, 2012)

Breaking news

In the United States, if the State courts took different positions on whether the game of poker is a game of chance or a game of strategy, this is the first time that a federal jurisdiction decides the issue by this judgment of August 21, 2012 ruled by Judge Jack Weinstein. The question is crucial for the Regulation of online gambling because gambling is regulated or even prohibited by State, but not strategy games. Qualification depends on the definition that is given in the game according to the judge, who relied on recent scientific studies, the gain in poker does not depend poker mostly luck but skill. Therefore, it escapes the regulations that surround gambling.

Updated: April 28, 2011 (Initial publication: April 28, 2011)

Authors

Mara Cameran holds a diploma from Bocconi University (Milan) and a doctorate in business management. She is an associate professor of financial accounting at Bocconi University (Milan) and teaches lectures on accounting and auditing within the accounting department. (...)

Updated: Sept. 10, 2012 (Initial publication: July 14, 2012)

Sectorial Analysis

Updated: May 29, 2012 (Initial publication: May 25, 2012)

Breaking news

Edited by Roger J. Van den Bergh, Professor of Law and Economics, Alessio M. Pacces, Professor of Law and Finance,University Rotterdam, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). Snd ed., Elgar Publisher, 2012, 800 p. Richard A. Posnor presents this collective book : "This book of essays on the economics of regulation is comprehensive and authoritative, and is particularly noteworthy for its emphasis on European as well as American regulatory methods. The international perspective is important because of the long history of regulatory failures on both continents, the increasing integration of the economies of both continents, and the resulting need of both regulatory cultures to learn from each other.".

Updated: June 25, 2012 (Initial publication: June 20, 2012)

Breaking news

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - ICANN, private regulator of Internet domain names, had a few months ago, embowed its depleted alphabet to letters with accents to closer to natural language domain names. A jump is crossed. On 13 June, 2012, the ICANN has published the list of the first private applications for the allocation of new generic extensions, does not corresponding to countries (.fr for France) or a typology (edu for Education), but to specific entities, including institutions or companies. The filing cost $ 185,000. 1930 claims have already been filed. Thus, some of the names are closely contested: for example "app", which evokes both "apple" and "application", was immediately requested by several companies.

Updated: Jan. 11, 2012 (Initial publication: Dec. 22, 2011)

Authors

Margot Sève is a lawyer who holds a Master degree in Business Law from the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas. She also studied Chinese in Paris (INALCO) and business law in China (...)