The trend towards globalisation of financial markets has been given further impetus in recent years by the dismantling of exchange controls, a dramatic rise in cross-border investment flows and increased access to domesticbanking markets by foreign institutions. At the same time, banking can no...

In recent years loan loss provisions have become the major determinant of bank profitability levels and have had a significant impact upon capital adequacy measures. Given the implications of such matters for the overall stability of the financial system, it is important to understand the...

This article examines the new regulatory framework for European securities markets, focusing in particular on capital adequacy requirements and the attempts of policy- makers to establish a 'level playing field' between banks and non-bank investment firms. The major conclusion is that whilst the...

Under existing accounting arrangements banks have considerable discretion in determining the level of provisions against loan losses. However, variable provisioning can undermine one of the central purposes of the 1988 Basle Accord on capital adequacy, which is to ensure that risk-weighted...