Remarks by Michael H. Moskow President and Chief Executive Officer Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The Westin Hotel - 909 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611 - May 17, 2007.

The global financial crisis revealed the fragility of the global fnancial framework under the current Basel agreements and provided an impetus not only for curtailing the risky activity of banks but also for rethinking what affects the stability of the global fnancial system. The recent Basel...

This paper explores whether corporate tax bias toward debt finance differs between banks and nonbanks, using a large panel of micro data. On average, it finds that there is no significant difference. The marginal tax effect for both banks and non-banks is close to 0.2. However, the...

We analyze recent trends in, and determinants of, financial supervisory governance. We first calculate levels of supervisory independence and accountability in 55 countries. The econometric analysis of the determinants indicates that the quality of public sector governance plays a decisive role...

Banks may be unable to refinance short-term liabilities in case of solvency concerns. To manage this risk, banks can accumulate a buffer of liquid assets, or strengthen transparency to communicate solvency. While a liquidity buffer provides complete insurance against small shocks, transparency...

In this paper, we provide an overview of the concerns surrounding the variations in the calculation of risk-weighted assets (RWAs) across banks and jurisdictions and how this might undermine the Basel III capital adequacy framework. We discuss the key drivers behind the differences in these...