Basel ii Accord Sections 50 to 58

II. Credit Risk — The Standardised Approach
 
50. The Committee proposes to permit banks a choice between two broad
methodologies for calculating their capital requirements for credit risk. One alternative will be to measure credit risk in a standardised manner, supported by external credit assessments.(14)
(14) The notations follow the methodology used by one institution, Standard & Poor’s. The use of Standard & Poor’s credit ratings is an example only; those of some other external credit assessment institutions could equally well be used. The ratings used throughout this document, therefore, do not express any preferences or determinations on external assessment institutions by the Committee.
 
51. The alternative methodology, which is subject to the explicit approval of the bank’s
supervisor, would allow banks to use their internal rating systems for credit risk.
 
52. The following section sets out revisions to the 1988 Accord for risk weighting
banking book exposures. Exposures that are not explicitly addressed in this section will
retain the current treatment; however, exposures related to securitisation are dealt with in
Section IV.
 
Furthermore, the credit equivalent amount of Securities Financing Transactions
(SFT) (15) and OTC derivatives that expose a bank to counterparty credit risk (16) is to be
calculated under the rules set forth in Annex 4 (17).
 
In determining the risk weights in the standardised approach, banks may use assessments by external credit assessment institutions recognised as eligible for capital purposes by national supervisors in accordance with the criteria defined in paragraphs 90 and 91. Exposures should be risk-weighted net of specific provisions. (18)
 
(15) Securities Financing Transactions (SFT) are transactions such as repurchase agreements, reverse repurchase agreements, security lending and borrowing, and margin lending transactions, where the value of the transactions depends on the market valuations and the transactions are often subject to margin agreements.
 
(16) The counterparty credit risk is defined as the risk that the counterparty to a transaction could default before the final settlement of the transaction’s cash flows. An economic loss would occur if the transactions or portfolio of transactions with the counterparty has a positive economic value at the time of default.
 
Unlike a firm’s exposure to credit risk through a loan, where the exposure to credit risk is unilateral and only the lending bank faces the risk of loss, the counterparty credit risk creates a bilateral risk of loss: the market value of the transaction can be positive or negative to either counterparty to the transaction. The market value is uncertain and can vary over time with the movement of underlying market factors.
 
(17) Annex 4 of this Framework is based on the treatment of counterparty credit risk set out in Part 1 of the Committee’s paper The Application of Basel II to Trading Activities and the Treatment of Double Default Effects (July 2005).
 
(18) A simplified standardised approach is outlined in Annex 11.
 
A. Individual claims
 
1. Claims on sovereigns
 
53. Claims on sovereigns and their central banks will be risk weighted as follows:
54. At national discretion, a lower risk weight may be applied to banks’ exposures to
their sovereign (or central bank) of incorporation denominated in domestic currency and
funded (19) in that currency. (20)
 
 Where this discretion is exercised, other national supervisory authorities may also permit their banks to apply the same risk weight to domestic currency exposures to this sovereign (or central bank) funded in that currency.

(19) This is to say that the bank would also have corresponding liabilities denominated in the domestic currency.

(20) This lower risk weight may be extended to the risk weighting of collateral and guarantees. See Sections II.D.3 and II.D.5.

55. For the purpose of risk weighting claims on sovereigns, supervisors may recognise
the country risk scores assigned by Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). To qualify, an ECA must publish its risk scores and subscribe to the OECD agreed methodology.
 
Banks may choose to use the risk scores published by individual ECAs that are recognised by their supervisor, or the consensus risk scores of ECAs participating in the “Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits”. (21)
 
The OECD agreed methodology establishes eight risk score
categories associated with minimum export insurance premiums. These ECA risk scores will correspond to risk weight categories as detailed below.

(21) The consensus country risk classification is available on the OECD’s website (http://www.oecd.org) in the Export Credit Arrangement web-page of the Trade Directorate.

56. Claims on the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund,

the European Central Bank and the European Community may receive a 0% risk weight.

2. Claims on non-central government public sector entities (PSEs)

57. Claims on domestic PSEs will be risk-weighted at national discretion, according to
either option 1 or option 2 for claims on banks. (22)
 
When option 2 is selected, it is to be applied without the use of the preferential treatment for short-term claims.
 
(22) This is regardless of the option chosen at national discretion for claims on banks of that country. It therefore does not imply that when one option has been chosen for claims on banks, the same option should also be applied to claims on PSEs.
58. Subject to national discretion, claims on certain domestic PSEs may also be treated
as claims on the sovereigns in whose jurisdictions the PSEs are established. (23)
 
 Where this discretion is exercised, other national supervisors may allow their banks to risk weight claims on such PSEs in the same manner.
 
(23) The following examples outline how PSEs might be categorised when focusing on one specific feature, namely revenue raising powers. However, there may be other ways of determining the different treatments applicable to different types of PSEs, for instance by focusing on the extent of guarantees provided by the central government:
 
- Regional governments and local authorities could qualify for the same treatment as claims on their sovereign or central government if these governments and local authorities have specific revenue raising powers and have specific institutional arrangements the effect of which is to reduce their risks of default.
- Administrative bodies responsible to central governments, regional governments or to local
authorities and other non-commercial undertakings owned by the governments or local authorities may not warrant the same treatment as claims on their sovereign if the entities do not have revenue raising powers or other arrangements as described above. If strict lending rules apply to these entities and a declaration of bankruptcy is not possible because of their special public status, it may be appropriate to treat these claims in the same manner as claims on banks.
- Commercial undertakings owned by central governments, regional governments or by local authorities may be treated as normal commercial enterprises. However, if these entities function as a corporate in competitive markets even though the state, a regional authority or a local authority is the major shareholder of these entities, supervisors should decide to consider them as corporates and therefore attach to them the applicable risk weights.
 
 

 

 

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