Information on national discretions published by the Basel Committee

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is today publishing the findings of a review of its members' implementation of national discretions within the Basel capital framework.

The Basel capital framework contains a number of national discretions that allow flexibility in implementing the standards. Such flexibility accommodates differences in the structure and development of financial systems. The Committee recognises, however, that the use of national discretions can also impair the comparability of implementation across jurisdictions.

Today's report provides greater transparency on the use of national discretions. As a second step, the Committee is reviewing some of the items of discretion for possible removal. This work is one of the measures being taken to simplify and enhance comparability across members' implementation of the Basel framework.