Basel II Steaming Ahead, Johnson Says Encouraging for CU Capital Reform

WASHINGTON — Federal banking regulators are claiming progress in the drawn-out battle to implement the Basel II capital standards in the U.S.

The federal banking regulators have approved a final rule implementing Basel II's advanced approach with the standardized approach still to come. The final rule retains the proposal's more stringent transitional floor periods and the Prompt Corrective Action regime of existing law, including leverage ratio requirements, and the agencies will undertake a study during the transition period to assess whether the U.S. Basel framework is working as intended, according to Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan at a recent address during the 2007 RMA Annual Risk Management Conference in New Orleans.