Basel II and Developing Countries: Sailing Through the Sea of Standards

Abstract:     
Despite recently announced delays, Basel II - the new standard for bank capital - is due to be completed this year for implementation in the 13 Basel Committee member countries by the end of 2006. Should the other 170 plus member countries of the World Bank also adopt Basel II? Basel II was not written with developing countries in mind, but that does not necessarily mean that there is nothing in it for developing countries or that it can be ignored. Basels I and II represent a wide "Sea of Standards." Powell suggests five alternative island-standards and five navigational tools to help countries choose their preferred island within the sea. He suggests that for some developing countries, the standardized approach will yield little in terms of linking regulatory capital to risk, but that countries may need many years of work to adopt the more advanced internal rating-based approach. The author then proposes a centralized rating-based approach as a transition measure. He also makes proposals regarding a set of largely unresolved cross-border issues.

This paper - a product of the Financial Sector Operations and Policy Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to inform policymakers on banking regulation and supervision.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 51

working papers series