April 4, 2012 - The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has published its second progress report on the Basel III capital adequacy implementation, ahead of the first deadline starting on 1 January 2013. The progress report tracks the implementation of Basel II, Basel 2.5 and Basel III by Committee member countries. It outlines the progress of individual member countries in transforming the Committee's regulatory standards into national law or regulation according to the internationally agreed timeframes.

Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basel Committee and governor of Sveriges Riksbank, said: "Full, timely and consistent implementation of the new capital standards by internationally active banks is a top priority for the Basel Committee. This will help to restore confidence in regulatory capital ratios and improve the resilience of the global banking system. Committee members are encouraged to keep up their efforts to ensure that implementation of the Basel III rules can begin, as agreed, from 1 January 2013."

The Committee has also commenced a programme of peer reviews to assess whether its members' national rules and regulations are consistent with the globally agreed minimum standards. These reviews will identify differences that could raise prudential or level playing field concerns. The methodology used by the Basel Committee to conduct these consistency reviews was also published today. Reviews of the Basel rules adopted by the EU, Japan and the US are already underway.

The final component of the Committee's implementation programme entails a review of the results delivered by national rules to determine whether the outcomes are consistent across banks and jurisdictions. The Committee's initial focus is on the calculation of risk-weighted assets in both the banking book and the trading book. These reviews started at the beginning of 2012, and initial findings are expected to be presented to the Committee before the end of the year. This progress report is merely one step in what is likely to be a long-running and challenging process for the banking industry.