When will the RBNZ admit its capital ratio definitions are bent? (And copy APRA’s plan to straighten them?)

Once in a while I meet bankers and bank regulators, sometimes over a cup of coffee, sometimes over a glass of Pinot Noir. In fact, I will attend an event with RBNZ’s Adrian Orr tomorrow. He will speak at the brand new PwC centre in Wellington. When it comes to bank capital, the narrative shared… Read More When will the RBNZ admit its capital ratio definitions are bent? (And copy APRA’s plan to straighten them?)

The European Commission’s proposal to accelerate the reduction of non-performing loans

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

Results of EU consultation on bank financing are out

Following up on an earlier post, the EC now published the answers on its consultation on long term finance. Thought the topic is hot, only 87 responses were submitted*, of which only two by academics. One by Martin Hellwig, the other by Martien Lubberink. The low public participation by academics is depressing, given that they called… Read More Results of EU consultation on bank financing are out

FYI some documentation on the Leverage Ratio for EU banks

My post on EU leverage ratios yesterday attracted some comments on twitter, which may haven been triggered by misunderstandings. The CRR offers a short and clear summary of the Leverage Ratio definition in Article 429.1: “The leverage ratio shall be calculated as an institution’s capital measure divided by that institution’s total exposure measure and shall… Read More FYI some documentation on the Leverage Ratio for EU banks

Yay! EBA presents the 2015 EU-wide transparency exercise results

Today, the EBA presented the 2015 EU-wide transparency exercise results. I am reading the data, which shows improvements in the resilience of the EU banking sector, covers around 70% of total EU banking assets for the reference dates of 31 December 2014 and 30 June 2015. (Some banks have not even published their capital positions… Read More Yay! EBA presents the 2015 EU-wide transparency exercise results

Five years after the first Basel III coco issuance, the Netherlands “gets” CoCos.

Uh oh, Jeroen Dijsselbloem form the Netherlands got into rough water this week: Dutch newspaper NRC had a nice scoop that showed how he relied on ING word smiths for writing a tax rule that renders bank capital instruments (CoCos) tax deductible, see full freedom of information documentation here. How bad is this? End 2013,… Read More Five years after the first Basel III coco issuance, the Netherlands “gets” CoCos.