This article summarizes the new regulatory capital
requirements and the issues most relevant for U.S. community
banks.
When the U.S. federal banking agencies adopted the final Basel
III capital requirements applicable to all U.S. banking
organizations, the agencies were careful to provide certain relief
for banks with less than $15 billion in assets. This article
summarizes the new regulatory capital requirements and the issues
most relevant for U.S. community banks.
Background
In December 2010 and June 2011, the Basel Committee on Banking
Supervision, composed of banking supervisory authorities, published
Basel III: A Global Regulatory Framework for More Resilient
Banks and Banking Systems ("Basel III").1
Basel III is intended to improve both the quality and quantity of
banking organizations' capital, as well as to strengthen
various aspects of the international capital standards for
calculating regulatory capital.2 Basel III enhances the
international
