Powell: Bank regulators should repropose Basel plan

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that is the “strongly held” view of the Fed board that bank regulators should seek additional feedback on a contentious effort to hike bank capital, a move that had been sought by the industry.

Powell said the Fed, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had made significant progress on refining the so-called “Basel III Endgame” proposal, which would overhaul how larger banks gauge risk and how much capital they should hold.

But he said the agencies were still working through how to proceed with the effort, and whether to finalize the rule so it can take effect or take time to solicit more feedback. Powell endorsed the latter, while noting the other agencies were not yet in agreement on that approach.

“My view, the strongly held view of members of the board, is that we do need to put a revised proposal out for comment for some period,” he told the Senate Banking Committee. “When there are broad material changes, that has been our practice.”

 

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