The Group of Twenty, also known as the G20, is a group of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors representing the world’s largest economies and works for international cooperation in the area of international economic and financial issues. The G20 has been very supportive of the implementation of the enhanced capital standards for banking institutions issued by the Bank for International Settlement’s Basel Committee. After its meeting on June 18-19, 2012, in Los Cabos, Mexico, the Leaders of the G20 issued an ambitious set of recommendations that the group felt would strengthen the global economy, address tensions in the financial markets and promote job growth.1 One of the recommendations was to urge jurisdictions to finalize adoption of Basel II, Basel 2.5 and Basel III, standards which are all aimed at strengthening capital at banks on a global basis.
The Basel Committee has been issuing periodic reports to the G20 on implementation of the new capital accords. The most recent set of reports was issued in anticipation of the G20′s most recent meeting on Nov. 4-5, 2012, in Mexico City.2 After the meeting, the G20 issued a communiqué reporting on progress in acting on the recommendations that had been raised at the June meeting in Mexico City. The G20 endorsed the latest Basel Committee report and agreed to “take the measures needed to ensure full, timely and effective implementation of Basel II, 2.5 and III and its consistency with internationally agreed standards.”3 This month’s column will discuss those reports and progress on international implementation of the strengthened capital standards.
