Banking regulators announce year-long delay for Basel III capital rules due to coronavirus

Global banking regulators issued a statement Friday saying that elements of the Basel III banking rules reform that have yet to be implemented will be pushed back a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the new timeline, the rules – related to how much capital banks are required to hold in certain circumstances and how they model such needs – are being pushed back to from January 2022 until January 2023. The move was announced by the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision, Basel III's oversight body.

The Basel III reforms trace their origin to the financial crisis of the late 2000s and were initially agreed upon in 2010. The delays announced Friday have to do with the set of rules that have yet to be implemented.

Source: BIS.org

"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 today aim to prioritise these objectives and we remain ready to act further if necessary," François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France and the chairman of the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision, said in a statement.