This week and the last, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand published two speeches discussing the strength of our financial system. It has been a while that I heard Geoff Bascand and Toby Fiennes on this topic, their speeches were as welcome as they were overdue. Geoff encouraged banks to be courageous. To support the… Read More Balls please, no horses
A short note on the outcome of the RBNZ capital plans Today, the RBNZ posted its final capital plans – well, they still need to be finalised, but for the Christmas holidays this will do. In fairness, I see no reason not to commend the RBNZ for their decisions on capital. See the summary cheat… Read More On olive branches and olive trees
Tomorrow at noon, the RBNZ will reveal its bank capital plans. After many years, the RBNZ will likely decide to increase capital requirements to 17 percent for all banks, with a 1 percent add-on for systemically important banks. Having contributed to capital rules for the Basel Committee and the European Union, for me, most of… Read More RBNZ's capital proposal, the grand finale …
Yesterday, the RBNZ announced the release of submissions on the last capital review paper. A whopping 161 submitters shared their views on the Reserve Bank’s capital proposals. This is significant for sure. It also confirms how interesting bank capital regulation is! I quickly found my own contributions. Three this time, but I wonder why the… Read More The international financial institution that the RBNZ ignored
The idea that financial markets are efficient is fascinating. A compelling story about market efficiency is the one about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The Challenger broke apart within minutes after its launch on 28 January 1986. I remember it very well. It was a cold day, I was in Groningen, the Netherlands. I cycled back home… Read More The wisdom of crowds
Today, I submitted my comments on our Reserve Bank’s 4th capital consultation paper. The RBNZ wants banks to meet stiff new capital requirements. For common equity, the ratio requirement will increase by a whopping 5 percent, with a 1.5 percent countercyclical buffer requirement on top. Total capital requirements will be 17 percent. There will be… Read More Are the Reserve Bank capital plans really about conduct risk?
“He is the problem.” the investment banker said on a sunny afternoon some weeks ago over a plate of Shed 5 fish & chips. I agreed, it’s the governance of the process, or the lack thereof, that puts the capital plans of the Reserve Bank at risk. The investment banker had spent the entire Christmas… Read More The Governance of the Reserve Bank Capital Plans
Orr’s monologue on bank capital at the Financial Stability Review presentation this week was a freshening surprise. No longer the wallflower of kiwi prudential supervision, Orr elevated bank capital to the top spot of priorities. Reinforcing Orr’s FSR rant monologue, the reserve bank published a short and clear speech, announcing its position on bank capital: “… New… Read More RBNZ takes position on bank capital
In a couple of weeks’ time, at the FEBS conference in Rome, Stefan Kerbl and Zsofia Döme from the Austrian national bank (OENB), will present a paper on the comparability of Basel risk weights in the EU banking sector. The short story: according to Stefan and Zsofia there are significant differences in the ways European… Read More How questionable is the comparability of Basel risk weights in the EU banking sector?
This week the EC presented concrete steps to tackle non-performing loans, see this page. Ouch One and Ouch Two Two reasons why this is an interesting proposal. First, it forces banks to deduct any provisioning shortfalls directly from Common Equity Tier 1. Ouch! Second, the proposal amends the CRR, which is a Regulation. And we… Read More The European Commission’s proposal to accelerate the reduction of non-performing loans
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