The effects of implementing increased capital requirements on domestic lending

Abstract

The banking sector plays a pivotal role in the economy in which it operates. It is therefore imperative to institute international regulatory bodies and regulations which will ensure the protection of all stakeholders in the sector. The adoption and implementation of the Basel Accords and their revised versions has been encouraged at The World Bank level, but the opinions and studies regarding the impact of the tightened regulations on the banking sector generated varied reactions. The objective of this research was to establish whether the increased capital requirements regulations, as guided by The Basel Accords, had negatively impacted the bank domestic lending of the countries which implemented the regulations by 2012. This quantitative research involved comparison of the domestic lending rates as a percentage of GDP of the countries which implemented Basel II for the years before, and after the implementation. The study has revealed that, despite the concerns that the increased capital requirements regulations would increase the lending costs, the implementation of these regulations did not negatively affect domestic lending from the banking sector. This research document concludes by recommending a few process guidelines which the global banking regulators might consider during the implementation of Basel III.