著者

渡部 訓 Watanabe Satoshi

出版者

法政大学経済学部学会

雑誌

経済志林 (ISSN:00229741)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.76, no.4, pp.251-286[含 英語文要旨], 2009-03

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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was established at the end of 1974 by the central-bank governors of the G10 countries, to restore international financial system stability in the aftermath of the failure ofBankhaus Herstatt. Its first major achievement was the adoption of the"Concordat" which set up the basic principles for international cooperationin the area of banking supervision. Since the adoption of the Concordat, the Committee has held regular meetings three or four times a year to further promote internationalcooperation in banking supervision. Among its major achievements were: (1) the use of supervision on a consolidated basis; (2) the effective monitoring of banks' solvency and liquidity adequacy; (3) best practicesconcerning country risk management and supervision; and (4) the prudential control of foreign exchange operations and the role of supervision. Also, the Committee provided members with opportunities to exchange information on the following banking supervisory matters: (1) the quality of bank capital; (2) arrangements for bank audits and affiliation relationships between banks and non-banks; (3) deposit insurance arrangements; (4) the supervision of banks' trust business; and (5) the role of profit and loss analysis in bank supervision. However, doubts emerged regarding the effectiveness of international cooperation in banking supervision under the Concordat in the summer of 1982, when Italian bank Banco Ambrosiano and its Luxembourg affiliateBanco Ambrosiano Holding collapsed and the Eurocurrency market was seriously disturbed.The Committee promptly reappraised the original Concordat and finalized its revised version in May 1983. In a change from the original Concordat, under which primary responsibility for supervising foreign subsidiaries and joint ventures rested with the host authorities in the division of responsibilities, the revised Concordat incorporated the principle of consolidated supervision, emphasizing the joint and overlapping nature of parent and host authorities' supervisory responsibilities.This paper discusses international cooperation in the area of bankingsupervision promoted by the Basel Committee by reviewing a wide range of documents such as publications and reports of the Committee.Also, it focuses on the revision of Concordat in the aftermath of the failure of Banco Ambrosiano.