The new Basel Capital Adequacy Accord (Basel III) is an agreement among countries' central banks and bank supervisory … authorities on the amount of capital banks must hold as a cushion against losses and insolvency. Basel III is of concern to … report follows the basic elements of the Basel III documents on the types of capital requirements and their phase-in schedule …

current Basel I capital framework does not require banks to hold sufficient amounts of capital to support their mortgage … lending activities. The new Basel II capital rules are intended to correct this problem. However, Basel II models could become … default and loss estimated and, thus, could affect the amount of capital that banks are required to hold. This paper finds …

Large banking organizations in the U.S. hold significantly more equity capital than the minimum required by bank … regulators. This capital cushion has built up during a period of unusual profitability for the banking system, leading some … observers to argue that the capital merely reflects recent profits. Others contend that the banks deliberately choose target …