The Basel Committee has delayed the implementation of Basel IV by a year following intense lobbying from the financial industry due to the coronavirus chaos, with a new deadline of 1 January, 2023.
The Committee’s oversight body, the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), last Friday endorsed a set of measures to provide additional operational capacity for banks and supervisors to respond to the immediate financial stability priorities resulting from the impact of the coronavirus disease on the global banking system.
“It is important that banks and supervisors are able to commit their full resources to respond to the impact of Covid-19. This includes providing critical services to the real economy and ensuring that the banking system remains financially and operationally resilient. The measures endorsed by GHOS aim to prioritise these objectives and we remain ready to act further if necessary,” said François Villeroy de Galhau, Chairman of the GHOS and Governor of the Bank of France.
The implementation date of the Basel III standards finalised in December 2017 (and widely referred to as Basel IV) has now been deferred by one year to 1 January, 2023, while the accompanying transitional arrangements for the output floor has also been extended by one year to 1 January, 2028.
In addition, the implementation date of the revised market risk framework finalised in January 2019 has been deferred by one year to 1 January, 2023, along with the deadline for the revised Pillar 3 disclosure requirements.
“The revised timeline is not expected to dilute the capital strength of the global banking system, but will provide banks and supervisors additional capacity to respond immediately and effectively to the impact of Covid-19,” says the Committee. However, the group also reiterated its expectation of “full, consistent and timely implementation of all standards” based on the revised timeline.
“Current events demonstrate once again the importance of a resilient financial system, which these reforms will help further reinforce,” it said.
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