Gross income - what’s in a name?

Banking regulators are pondering whether to change the title ‘gross income’ as currently applied in the simpler approaches for measuring op risk under the Basel II banking accord.

Any change would be purely cosmetic and would not alter the components of the calculation. But it might help clarify the concept for banks required to charge capital against op risk as a proportion of what is currently called gross income under the Basel II proposals, regulators said.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the architect of Basel II and the body that in effect regulates international banking, defines bank gross income as net interest income plus net non-interest income