Basel III : A study of Basel III and whether it may protect against new banking failures

Abstract: The financial crisis of 2007 until today affected the banking industry to a large extent. Many banks failed or got bailed out by governments. To protect against banking failures and new financial crises the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has reviewed, renewed and extended the banking regulations. The result is a framework for banking regulations called Basel III. This study examines the Basel III framework and its potential effect on protecting the banks. The study answers the question: if Basel III may protect against new banking failures. The study has used a qualitative approach. The theoretical framework has been built up by the use of the literature review. Literature has mainly been found by use of the university library’s online databases. For the empirical results interviews were made with banks and supervisors from Sweden and from Finland to see their view on the emerging framework. The views of supervisors and banks are that Basel III should have tougher requirements than it now has. The capital requirements are seen as too low and the risk-weights are criticized not to reflect the reality. Supervisors are still positive and believe that Basel III will give a better protection, but it will not fully protect against failures. Banks have a similar view, some are positive and believe that it will give a better protection while others do not think it will protect against failures any better.