WASHINGTON, DC The Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency joined with the other federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies
today in releasing three documents related to the U.S. implementation of the
Basel II Capital Accord.
The documents include:
- An
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR), describing possible changes
to existing capital adequacy regulations;
- Proposed
guidance on supervisory expectations for banking organizations adopting
the advanced internal-ratings based approach (A-IRB) for commercial credit
exposures; and
- Proposed
guidance for banking organizations adopting the advanced measurements
approaches (AMA) for operational risk exposures.
The three documents will be published in the Federal Register,
and public comments will be accepted for 90 days after publication.
Comptroller of the Currency John D. Hawke, Jr. noted that
the proposals issued today are subject to change.
Let me be clear that the OCC -- which has the sole
statutory responsibility for promulgating capital regulations for national
banks -- will not begin implementing a final revision to the Basel capital
framework until we have fully considered all comments received and conducted
whatever cost-benefit and impact analyses are required, Mr. Hawke said in a
statement issued today.
If we determine through this process that changes to the
proposal are necessary, we will not approve any revisions to our capital rules
until appropriate changes are made, he added.
The three issuances represent the first official step toward
U.S. implementation of work that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision
began four years ago to develop a more detailed and risk sensitive capital
adequacy framework to replace the 1988 Capital Accord. The issuances were
developed from the Basel Committees third consultative paper, which was issued
on April 29.
The three documents are designed to provide a clear
articulation of the regulatory and supervisory requirements of a Basel II-based
regime in the U.S.; to solicit comment from the banking industry and other
interested parties on the practical consequences of such a regime; and to
position the U.S. agencies to make necessary changes to the proposal at the
international level.
The documents approved today are available at the OCCs
website at www.occ.treas.gov.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of Thrift Supervision also
plan to seek comment on the three issuances.
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The OCC charters, regulates
and examines approximately 2,100 national banks and 52 federal branches of
foreign banks in the U.S., accounting for more than 55 percent of the
nations banking assets. Its mission is to ensure a safe and sound and
competitive national banking system that supports the citizens, communities
and economy of the United States.
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