Basel Committee Discusses Banking Vulnerabilities, Climate and Cryptoasset Disclosures
2023-10-23Basel
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision met in October to evaluate recent market developments and risks to the global banking system. The Committee also discussed several policy and supervisory initiatives.
The Committee reviewed the outlook for the global banking system given the March 2023 banking turmoil and high interest rate environment. The banking challenges that occurred this Spring were the most significant system-wide stress on the banking industry since the Great Financial Crisis. The Committee reflected on the causes of the banking turmoil and the regulatory and supervisory lessons learned in its October 2023 report. Based on this report, which the Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision recently reaffirmed, the Committee will be pursuing several initiatives. These include:
- Prioritising work to strengthen the supervisory effectiveness and areas that need additional global guidance; and
- Pursuing additional follow-up analytical work to assess whether specific standards of the Basel Framework produced the intended result during the March 2023 banking turmoil (especially related to liquidity and interest rate risk).
In addition to reflecting on this year’s banking challenges and future adjustments, the Committee discussed both climate risks and cryptoasset exposure. The Committee agreed to consult on a Pillar 3 disclosure framework for bank exposures to climate-related financial risks. The Committee will be publishing a consultation paper on this topic by November. The Committee also agreed to consult on disclosure requirements regarding banks’ cryptoasset exposures. These new disclosures would complement the previous standards issued by the Committee in December 2022. The consultation paper on cryptoassets is expected soon.
Finally, members of the Committee also discussed how advances in digitalisation and financial technology are impacting the financial system. Trends discussed included the provision of banking services through non-bank intermediaries (“Banking as a Service”). The Committee expects to publish a report in 2024 on developments in digitalisation of finance and their implications for banks and supervisors.