Questions and answers on Basel 2 and the agenda for regulatory reform

Remarks of Andrew Cornford, Observatoire de la Finance XXIX Technical Group of the Group of Twenty-Four Geneva, 7-8 September 2009

1. What are the principal revisions of Basel 2 currently planned for or recently introduced?

During the corresponding Geneva meeting of the Technical Group last year I forecast that an initiative to start work on a Basel 3 to replace Basel 2 was unlikely in the near future, though a process of incremental revision and expansion of Basel 2 starting shortly could reasonably be anticipated. On nomenclature I was correct since no initiative entitled Basel 3 is currently in the works. Nevertheless the changes whose introduction has been under way since the start of 2009 arguably entail a major overhaul of the agreement. The changes cover the following areas[1]: