The Bank for International Settlements has just released its latest Basel III Monitoring Report. This included five banks from Australia, four group one, and one group two bank. This report presents the results of the Basel Committee’s latest Basel III monitoring exercise. The study is based on the rigorous reporting process set up by the Committee to periodically review the implications of the Basel III standards for banks. The results of previous exercises in this series were published in March 2015, September 2014, March 2014, September 2013, March 2013, September 2012 and April 2012.
Data have been provided for a total of 221 banks, comprising 100 large internationally active banks (“Group 1 banks”, defined as internationally active banks that have Tier 1 capital of more than €3 billion) and 121 Group 2 banks (ie representative of all other banks).
The results of the monitoring exercise assume that the final Basel III package is fully in force, based on data as of 31 December 2014. That is, they do not take account of the transitional arrangements set out in the Basel III framework, such as the gradual phase-in of deductions from regulatory capital. No assumptions were made about bank profitability or behavioural responses, such as changes in bank capital or balance sheet composition. For that reason, the results of the study are not comparable to industry estimates.
Data as of 31 December 2014 show that all large internationally active banks meet the Basel III risk-based capital minimum requirements as well as the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) target level of 7.0% (plus the surcharges on global systemically important banks – G-SIBs – as applicable). Between 30 June and 31 December 2014, Group 1 banks reduced their capital shortfalls relative to the higher Tier 1 and total capital target levels; the additional Tier 1 capital shortfall has decreased from €18.6 billion to €6.5 billion and the Tier 2 capital shortfall has decreased from €78.6 billion to €40.6 billion. As a point of reference, the sum of after-tax profits prior to distributions across the same sample of Group 1 banks for the six-month period ending 31 December 2014 was €228.1 billion.
Under the same assumptions, there is no capital shortfall for Group 2 banks included in the sample for the CET1 minimum of 4.5%. For a CET1 target level of 7.0%, the shortfall narrowed from €1.8 billion to €1.5 billion since the previous period.
The average CET1 capital ratios under the Basel III framework across the same sample of banks are 11.1% for Group 1 banks and 12.3% for Group 2 banks.
Basel III’s Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) came into effect on 1 January 2015. The minimum requirement is set initially at 60% and will then rise in equal annual steps to reach 100% in 2019. The weighted average LCR for the Group 1 bank sample was 125% on 30 June 2014, up from 121% six months earlier. For Group 2 banks, the weighted average LCR was 144%, up from 140% six months earlier. For banks in the sample, 85% reported an LCR that met or exceeded 100%, while 98% reported an LCR at or above 60%.
Basel III also includes a longer-term structural liquidity standard – the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) – which was finalised by the Basel Committee in October 2014. The weighted average NSFR for the Group 1 bank sample was 111% while for Group 2 banks the average NSFR was 114%. As of December 2014, 75% of the Group 1 banks and 85% of the Group 2 banks in the NSFR sample reported a ratio that met or exceeded 100%, while 92% of the Group 1 banks and 93% of the Group 2 banks reported an NSFR at or above 90%.
