Basel ii Accord Sections 652 to 663

2. The Standardised Approach (103), (104)
 
652. In the Standardised Approach, banks’ activities are divided into eight business lines:
corporate finance, trading & sales, retail banking, commercial banking, payment &
settlement, agency services, asset management, and retail brokerage. The business lines
are defined in detail in Annex 8.
 
653. Within each business line, gross income is a broad indicator that serves as a proxy
for the scale of business operations and thus the likely scale of operational risk exposure
within each of these business lines. The capital charge for each business line is calculated
by multiplying gross income by a factor (denoted beta) assigned to that business line.
 
Beta serves as a proxy for the industry-wide relationship between the operational risk loss
experience for a given business line and the aggregate level of gross income for that
business line. It should be noted that in the Standardised Approach gross income is
measured for each business line, not the whole institution, i.e. in corporate finance, the
indicator is the gross income generated in the corporate finance business line.
 
(103) The Committee intends to reconsider the calibration of the Basic Indicator and Standardised Approaches when more risk-sensitive data are available to carry out this recalibration. Any such recalibration would not be intended to affect significantly the overall calibration of the operational risk component of the Pillar 1 capital charge.
 
(104) The Alternative Standardised Approach At national supervisory discretion a supervisor can choose to allow a bank to use the Alternative Standardised Approach (ASA) provided the bank is able to satisfy its supervisor that this alternative approach provides an improved basis by, for example, avoiding double counting of risks.
 
Once a bank has been allowed to use the ASA, it will not be allowed to revert to use of the Standardised Approach without the permission of its supervisor. It is not envisaged that large diversified banks in major markets would use the ASA.
 
Under the ASA, the operational risk capital charge/methodology is the same as for the Standardised Approach except for two business lines — retail banking and commercial banking. For these business lines, loans andadvances — multiplied by a fixed factor ‘m’ — replaces gross income as the exposure indicator.
 
The betas for retail and commercial banking are unchanged from the Standardised Approach. The ASA operational risk capital charge for retail banking (with the same basic formula for commercial banking) can be expressed as:
where
KRB is the capital charge for the retail banking business line
 
βRB is the beta for the retail banking business line
 
LARB is total outstanding retail loans and advances (non-risk weighted and gross of provisions), averaged over the past three years
 
m is 0.035
 
For the purposes of the ASA, total loans and advances in the retail banking business line consists of the total drawn amounts in the following credit portfolios: retail, SMEs treated as retail, and purchased retail receivables.
 
For commercial banking, total loans and advances consists of the drawn amounts in the following credit portfolios: corporate, sovereign, bank, specialised lending, SMEs treated as corporate and purchased corporate receivables.
 
The book value of securities held in the banking book should also be included.
 
Under the ASA, banks may aggregate retail and commercial banking (if they wish to) using a beta of 15%. Similarly, those banks that are unable to disaggregate their gross income into the other six business lines can aggregate the total gross income for these six business lines using a beta of 18%, with negative gross income treated as described in paragraph 654.
 
As under the Standardised Approach, the total capital charge for the ASA is calculated as the simple summation of the regulatory capital charges across each of the eight business lines.
 
654. The total capital charge is calculated as the three-year average of the simple
summation of the regulatory capital charges across each of the business lines in each year.
In any given year, negative capital charges (resulting from negative gross income) in any
business line may offset positive capital charges in other business lines without limit.105
However, where the aggregate capital charge across all business lines within a given year is
negative, then the input to the numerator for that year will be zero.106 The total capital charge may be expressed as:
where:
 
(105) At national discretion, supervisors may adopt a more conservative treatment of negative gross income.
 
(106) As under the Basic Indicator Approach, if negative gross income distorts a bank’s Pillar 1 capital charge under the Standardised Approach, supervisors will consider appropriate supervisory action under Pillar 2.
 
3. Advanced Measurement Approaches (AMA)
 
655. Under the AMA, the regulatory capital requirement will equal the risk measure
generated by the bank’s internal operational risk measurement system using the quantitative and qualitative criteria for the AMA discussed below. Use of the AMA is subject to supervisory approval.
 
656. A bank adopting the AMA may, with the approval of its host supervisors and the
support of its home supervisor, use an allocation mechanism for the purpose of determining
the regulatory capital requirement for internationally active banking subsidiaries that are not
deemed to be significant relative to the overall banking group but are themselves subject to
this Framework in accordance with Part 1.
 
Supervisory approval would be conditional on the bank demonstrating to the satisfaction of the relevant supervisors that the allocation mechanism for these subsidiaries is appropriate and can be supported empirically. The board of directors and senior management of each subsidiary are responsible for conducting their own assessment of the subsidiary’s operational risks and controls and ensuring the subsidiary is adequately capitalised in respect of those risks.
 
657. Subject to supervisory approval as discussed in paragraph 669(d), the incorporation
of a well-reasoned estimate of diversification benefits may be factored in at the group-wide
level or at the banking subsidiary level. However, any banking subsidiaries whose host
supervisors determine that they must calculate stand-alone capital requirements (see Part 1)
may not incorporate group-wide diversification benefits in their AMA calculations (e.g. where an internationally active banking subsidiary is deemed to be significant, the banking
subsidiary may incorporate the diversification benefits of its own operations — those arising
at the sub-consolidated level — but may not incorporate the diversification benefits of the
parent).
 
658. The appropriateness of the allocation methodology will be reviewed with
consideration given to the stage of development of risk-sensitive allocation techniques and
the extent to which it reflects the level of operational risk in the legal entities and across the
banking group. Supervisors expect that AMA banking groups will continue efforts to develop
increasingly risk-sensitive operational risk allocation techniques, notwithstanding initial
approval of techniques based on gross income or other proxies for operational risk.
 
659. Banks adopting the AMA will be required to calculate their capital requirement using
this approach as well as the 1988 Accord as outlined in paragraph 46.
 
C. Qualifying criteria
 
1. The Standardised Approach (107)
660. In order to qualify for use of the Standardised Approach, a bank must satisfy its
supervisor that, at a minimum:
 
Its board of directors and senior management, as appropriate, are actively involved
in the oversight of the operational risk management framework;
 
It has an operational risk management system that is conceptually sound and is
implemented with integrity; and
 
It has sufficient resources in the use of the approach in the major business lines as
well as the control and audit areas.
 
(107) Supervisors allowing banks to use the Alternative Standardised Approach must decide on the appropriate qualifying criteria for that approach, as the criteria set forth in paragraphs 662 and 663 of this section may not be appropriate.
 
661. Supervisors will have the right to insist on a period of initial monitoring of a bank’s
Standardised Approach before it is used for regulatory capital purposes.
 
662. A bank must develop specific policies and have documented criteria for mapping
gross income for current business lines and activities into the standardised framework. The
criteria must be reviewed and adjusted for new or changing business activities as
appropriate. The principles for business line mapping are set out in Annex 8.
 
663. As some internationally active banks will wish to use the Standardised Approach, it
is important that such banks have adequate operational risk management systems.
 
Consequently, an internationally active bank using the Standardised Approach must meet
the following additional criteria: (108)
 
(a) The bank must have an operational risk management system with clear
responsibilities assigned to an operational risk management function. The
operational risk management function is responsible for developing strategies to
identify, assess, monitor and control/mitigate operational risk; for codifying firm-level
policies and procedures concerning operational risk management and controls; for
the design and implementation of the firm’s operational risk assessment
methodology; and for the design and implementation of a risk-reporting system for
operational risk.
 
(b) As part of the bank’s internal operational risk assessment system, the bank must
systematically track relevant operational risk data including material losses by
business line. Its operational risk assessment system must be closely integrated into
the risk management processes of the bank. Its output must be an integral part of
the process of monitoring and controlling the banks operational risk profile. For
instance, this information must play a prominent role in risk reporting, management
reporting, and risk analysis. The bank must have techniques for creating incentives
to improve the management of operational risk throughout the firm.
 
(c) There must be regular reporting of operational risk exposures, including material
operational losses, to business unit management, senior management, and to the
board of directors. The bank must have procedures for taking appropriate action
according to the information within the management reports.
 
(d) The bank’s operational risk management system must be well documented. The
bank must have a routine in place for ensuring compliance with a documented set of
internal policies, controls and procedures concerning the operational risk management system, which must include policies for the treatment of noncompliance issues.
 
(e) The bank’s operational risk management processes and assessment system must
be subject to validation and regular independent review. These reviews must include
both the activities of the business units and of the operational risk management
function.
 
(f) The bank’s operational risk assessment system (including the internal validation
processes) must be subject to regular review by external auditors and/or
supervisors.

(108) For other banks, these criteria are recommended, with national discretion to impose them as requirements.

 

   
 

 

 

Sarbanes Oxley Training
Courses designed to provide with the knowledge and skills needed to understand and support Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
www.sarbanes-oxley-training.com  
 
Basel ii Training
Courses designed to provide with the knowledge and skills needed to understand and support Basel ii compliance.
www.basel-ii-training.com 
 
Sarbanes Oxley Act
Sarbanes Oxley Compliance: Books, Software, Certification, Training and Resources.
www.sarbanes-oxley-act.biz 
 
Basel ii Accord
Basel ii Compliance: Books, Software, Certification, Training and Resources
http://www.basel-ii-accord.com/  
 
Compliance Training
Sarbanes Oxley, Basel ii, Data Protection Directive, Information Security Training
www.compliance-training.net