Risk conference panellists issue warnings on US Basel position

Panellists on a roundtable devoted to the subject of the revisions to the Basel capital accords issued dire warnings about the implications of the US decision not to implement Basel II in its full form, but rather to select about 10 "internationally active" banks to adopt the advanced internal ratings-based approach for credit risk and the advanced measurement approach for operational risk.

“The US position, is, I think, quite extraordinary,” said John Thirlwell, formerly of the BBA and now an executive with the Operational Risk Research Forum in London. “It this really the death of the Basel Committee. It could well be that Basel II is the last Basel that we will see. European capital adequacy directives (CADs) will go on until the crack of doom, there is no doubt about that.” But after the US decision, panellists questioned whether there would be enough political motivation