Global Adoption of Basel Standards, 2004-2015

Contains time-series data on the extent of countries' adoption of the Basel banking standards, disaggregated by individual components that make up the standards. The majority of the data has been coded from the Financial Stability Institute's surveys of adoption of Basel standards in countries outside of the Basel Committee on Banking Standards.1 The surveys were conducted annually 2012–2015, with responding countries indicating the year they initially introduced individual rules as part of the Basel banking standards. This allows us to backdate the date a rule was initially adopted, creating a time-series of adoption from 2004 to 2015.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, industrialized countries have agreed a series of regulatory reforms to repair and regulate their own financial systems. All countries, including LICs are encouraged to adopt these new global standards. Members of the G20 have asked the Financial Stability Board, IMF and World Bank to study how global banking initiatives will impact developing and emerging economies, identifying this area as a key policy concern for promoting inclusive growth. To date the scant research on this question addresses almost exclusively emerging market economies. LIC governments and advisers have voiced an urgent need for LIC-specific analysis. This project will be amongst the very first to look at how political institutions and processes - at both the domestic and global levels - shape the impact of global banking initiatives on LICs and their ability to harness financial flows for inclusive growth. The core research questions are: (1) How much de facto flexibility do LICs have in respect of the new regulatory standards, how much do they need, and under what conditions (economic and political; global, regional and national) should they adopt new regulatory standards? (2) What strategies for influencing global standard-setting processes and institutions are likely to yield the best outcomes for LICs? The project combines two disciplinary approaches: political science and economics. It combines quantitative and qualitative analysis, and will generate new datasets. Outputs will include top-quality peer-reviewed academic publications and a series of tailored policy briefs. The project has been designed to maximize impact through continuous direct engagement with policy-makers confronting the problems the research addresses. The design of the research questions has been undertaken in dialogue with LIC and developing country policy-makers. We will continue to engage policy-makers through semi-structured interviews; annual workshops; and through the project's Expert Advisory Board.  Our impact strategy leverages existing close links between several of our researchers and key stakeholders in LICs. The project will enhance the capacity of LIC governments to make choices about financial regulation, and to ensure global standard-setting processes support these choices. It will also enhance the capacity of scholars and stakeholders in LICs to continue the research in-country: to this end we are working with in-country researchers on the case studies and engaging Southern stakeholders with targeted dissemination.  

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