ST PETERSBURG, June 5 (Itar-Tass) - VTB President and Chairman of the Management Board Andrei Kostin has called for making no haste with the introduction of new standards developed by the Bank for International Settlements (Basel III) in Russia.
“We see that most European countries and the United States are not ready for introducing Basel III and we believe that there is no need to make haste. It is necessary to keep up with other players not to miss advantages that non-accession to Basel III gives from the point of view of business development and supervision,” Kostin told the International Banking Congress in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
“We realize the need for introducing Basel III, but we would not like this step to be taken in advance. I believe that it is necessary to introduce Basel III, when Europe and America will do this - there is no need to lag behind and there is no need to run ahead,” he said.
The VTB “has no big discrepancies with the Central Bank as concerns Basel III,” he said. “But we consider it possible to refuse from using an increased coefficient of 1.25 in relation to capital adequacy adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.”
Earlier the first deputy chair of the Central Bank of Russia, Alexei Simanovsky, called expedient the introduction of new standards developed by the Bank for International Settlements as of October 1. At the same time he noted that it is necessary to adopt certain law-making instruments and to work with certain banks that may need technical support of the Central Bank.
Simanovsky said, “in general, Basel III requirements are tougher and more serious than those requirements for capital calculations now set by the Central Bank.”
Basel III was developed in response to the deficiencies in financial regulation revealed by the financial crisis in the late 2000s. It sets requirements for bank capitals and introduces new liquidity norms. The main goal of the agreement is to improve quality of risk management in banking, which in turn should enhance stability of the financial system in general.
Transition to Basel III is scheduled for 2012-2019.