Management Regulations : Basel II

The rules require banks with assets of over $50 billion to hold up to 3% of their proceeds in cash or highly liquid securities in order to avoid bank failure in the case of another crash.

The Dodd-Frank Act put a considerable burden on financial regulators whom have to work out the details in order to implement its vision. It includes a variety of points relating to the prevention of a future crisis (Kim & Muldoon 2015). Some of these major points include: (1) The creation of a new Financial Stability Oversight Council, comprising existing regulators, to be responsible for overseeing any financial institution or set of market circumstances determined to be likely to result in risk to the overall economy, (2) A reallocation of banking oversight responsibility among the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the FDIC, requiring the Federal Reserve Board to supervise nonbank financial companies “that may

Basel III is a global comprehensive collection of restructured regulatory standards on bank capital adequacy and liquidity. It was developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk management of the banking sector (bis.org, 2010). It introduces new regulatory requirements on bank liquidity and bank leverage in response to the financial downturn caused by the Global Financial Crisis. Stefan Walter, Secretary General of the Basel Committee on banking supervision said in November 2010:

Firstly, the Dodd–Frank Act pushes forward the reformation of America's financial regulatory system. Several new regulatory authorities are set up to enhance the government supervision and administration of the industry. The Financial Stability Oversight Council is established to identify material risks to financial stability, with the support from Office of Financial Research. Moreover, Fed is entitled to exercise additional superintendence beyond banks.

Investment Banking is now at a crucial junction, where Investment and Commercial Banking are splitting up due to the ring fence which is being built around these two banking areas. As well, the new upcoming regulation, Basel III, will have a huge impact in the investment banks, with higher liquidity and capital requirements, in order to increase solvency and stability in financial industries.

The reality of systemic risk made the task of regulating the financial system increasingly complicated, as the crises aren’t contained in one country or market. The extreme inter-dependence between the different agents is the main reason why we need regulation today, as some misconducts can cause a domino effect, affecting markets globally. The structure of the banking system in itself explains this process. In the finance industry, banks borrow money from other banks. If one bank fails, the one who lent the funds in the first place might also follow the same path, creating panic in the markets. The government’s first prerogative is to protect its citizens from these

The Dodd-Frank Act utilizes several different measures to determine the level of systemic risk in the financial system. Regulators are encouraged to consider the following criteria when assessing the systemic risk of a firm (pgs. 131-132):

First, high capital requirements could enable institutions to be more flexible facing financial stress and crises. Second, the CFPB strengthens the oversight responsibilities, lessens the regulatory infrastructure risky gaps, and improves the protection for consumers. Third, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) single-point-of-entry strategy installs standard procedures to wind down failed financial institutions,

As part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, banks with total consolidated assets of more than $10 billion is required to conduct annual stress tests and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System published its final stress test rule (12 CFR 252) which provided definitions and rules concerning scope, scenarios, reporting and disclosure. This rule continues to be a focus by the regulators to ensure banks are in

Reserve offered “easy credit” (Finance and Banking Developments, 2010). The easy credit offering and bank deregulation in 2004, which allowed banks to lend out as much as they felt they could handle, caused the economy to spiral out of control. The Federal Reserves had to contract the market during the years 2004 – 2006. With the swings in the economy, it led to a large financial crisis of 2007 thru 2010. This financial crisis had a strong negative effect on the economy causing substantial job losses, homes were being lost. It is the worst the world has seen since the Great Depression of the 30’s. This crisis encouraged the FDIC to expand its insurance on depositor’s funds to $250,000.0, which is what it remains at today. In 2010 the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and the Consumer Protection Act passed and are actively in place today. It is these two acts that have significantly impact of banking regulations today. The Volcker Rule was a part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and passed in late 2010 which stopped banks from doing any proprietary trading. The reason for this rule was to stop the trading that the banks were doing with to the financial crisis. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act has many parts to it but overall it pushes for regulation of areas that were deregulated, elimination of certain bailouts and addresses issues in relation to bankruptcy. This reform has

Basel III is another law implemented that will place additional strain on Banks. Basel III is a set of reform measures, developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. It is a framework used to strengthen risk management and a banks ability to absorb shocks from financial and economic stress. Basel III implemented new tier 1 capital requirements, new minimum leverage ratio requirements and new liquidity coverage ratios requirements. Community banks enjoyed a small victory by delaying the final implementation requirements for Basel III to March 31, 2019.

One of the principal functions of the Federal Reserve in achieving this goal is to regulate and supervise various financial entities. It performs this function, in part, through microprudential regulation and supervision of banks; holding companies and their affiliates; and other entities, including nonbank financial companies that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) has determined should be supervised by the Board and subject to prudential standards. In addition, the Federal Reserve engages in “macroprudential” supervision and regulation that looks beyond the safety and soundness of individual institutions to promote the stability of the financial system as a

The American Banking system has always focused on order, resiliency and the ability to withstand the storm. When comparing banking systems, it is required analyze both the strengths and the weaknesses of each system. While examining the American banking system, a key strength that is presented is the pride if its resiliency, “these improvements in the resiliency of the banking system have been reinforced by a series of key capital and liquidity rules that have been enacted in the United States, including the Basel III capital and liquidity frameworks as adopted in more stringent form” (The State of American Banking).

With this title two new government departments are created The Financial stability Oversight Council and the Office of Financial Research. The authority of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is it expanded also to allow them to supervise nonbank financial companies and certain bank holding companies that could affect the health of the country’s economy.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Congress recognized the need to regulate nonbank institutions. Many of the financially distressed institutions were not regulated by the same standards bank holdings were. As a result The Financial Stability Oversight Committee was created under Title I of the Dobb-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The committee was signed into law by Barack Obama on July 21, 2010 and serves three primary purposes. One is to authorize and determine nonbank financial institutions that if under material financial distress or failure, can threaten the financial stability of the United States. The designated institutions are referred to as systematically important financial institutions (SIFIs) and are subject to the regulation and supervision of the Federal Reserve System (Board of Governors). Another purpose of the committee is to promote market discipline and eliminate the expectation of companies stakeholder’s relying on the U.S. government bailout as safeguard from failure or loss. Last but not least the committee is also expected to recommend standards and safeguards for U.S. and global financial systems. In the executive summary of the 2014/15 annual reports, the committee continues focusing on three areas of financial risk: cyber security, foreign markets and the housing finance reform.