Basel Outlines Plan to Improve Regulation

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said it has developed a "comprehensive strategy" Thursday to address weaknesses in regulation.

The "primary objective of the committee's strategy is to strengthen capital buffers and help contain leverage in the banking system arising from both on- and off-balance-sheet activities," Nout Wellink, the chairman of the Basel Committee, said in a press release.

Few details were available on exactly how the committee would accomplish that goal.

It outlined eight "building blocks" that would be critical to its strategy. Those building blocks include plans to broaden the risk captured by the Basel II capital rule, build "shock absorbers into the capital framework," and enhance the quality of Tier 1 capital.

"Basel II will ensure that all contractual exposures to off-balance-sheet vehicles are subject to regulatory capital requirements," Mr. Wellink said in a speech Monday in Beijing.

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