Guidance for Supervisors on Market-Based Indicators of Liquidity

In January 2013, the Basel Committee's oversight body, the Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), agreed the final form of the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR). At that time, the GHOS asked the Committee to undertake some additional work on liquidity disclosure, the use of market-based indicators of liquidity within the regulatory framework, and the interaction between the LCR and the provision of central bank facilities. The Committee has completed this work, and has published a package of material that responds to these requests.

The Basel Committee has published Guidance for supervisors on market-based indicators of liquidity. This document has been published to assist supervisors in their evaluation of the liquidity profile of assets held by banks, and to help promote greater of consistency in High Quality Liquid Assets (HQLA) classifications across jurisdictions, for the purposes of Basel III's LCR. Importantly, the guidance does not change the definition of HQLA within the LCR; rather, it helps supervisors assess whether assets are suitably liquid for LCR purposes.