Overseen by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
http://www.bis.org/list/bcbs/tid_21/index.htm
Basel I is a set of minimum capital requirements for banks agreed by central bankers from around the world, resulting in the Basil Accord of 1988, enforced by the Group of Ten (G-10) countries in 1992. Since updated by the Basel II and Basel III accords.
Key Facts
Classifies bank assets into five categories according to credit risk, carrying risk weights of zero up to 100%. Banks with international presence are required to hold capital equal to 8% of the risk-weighted assets.
- 0% - cash, central bank and government debt and any OECD government debt
- 0%, 10%, 20% or 50% - public sector debt
- 20% - development bank debt, OECD bank debt, OECD securities firm debt, non-OECD bank debt (under one year maturity) and non-OECD public sector debt, cash in collection
- 50% - residential mortgages
- 100% - private sector debt, non-OECD bank debt (maturity over a year), real estate, plant and equipment, capital instruments issued at other banks
Additional Information
BCBS Compendium of Documents - Volume I: Basic supervisory methods
Who it affects
Banks in member countries Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Adopted by more than 100 countries.
Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_I