Timetable trouble

US regulators' decision to delay the Basel II capital accord by a year has frustrated international banks, causing some to re-assess their global implementation plans. With US regulators yet to release national implementation guidelines, bankers and supervisors are trying to work out the implications of the delay

The decision by US regulators last September to delay the implementation of the Basel II capital accord by a year has caused plenty of uncertainty among banks and overseas regulators. As the deadline loomed, US senators representing states whose banks have predominantly local operations - that is, most of them - hit the panic button.

With the results of the fourth quantitative impact study showing that large banks applying the advanced internal ratings-based (IRB) approach would