Good morning, and thank you to the Superintendency of Banks and Financial Institutions (SBIF) for inviting me to give the keynote speech at your conference today on banking development, stability and sustainability. Let me thank Eric in particular for the warm welcome, and for his and the SBIF’s efforts to host a number of important meetings earlier this week.
The Basel Committee is well on track to finalise by the end of this year its reforms related to reducing excessive variability in risk-weighted assets. Looking forward, research-based contributions – be they conceptual or empirical, academic or policy-based in nature – will be invaluable inputs to the Committee. Indeed, research contributions have already played a key role in developing the Basel III framework.
The importance of research for the Basel Committee is premised on two key principles on which the Committee conducts its work: a focus on rigorous evidence-based analysis and an extensive consultation process. At times, the policymaking process is viewed as a restricted bilateral discussion between regulators and banks. This is untrue and would be a poor approach to policymaking. The Basel Committee actively consults a wide range of stakeholders, including academics, analysts, central banks and supervisory authorities, industry participants and the general public. Research-based contributions are most effective in producing compelling, unbiased, evidence-based analysis.