The Financial Stability Board has raised the hopes of emerging market authorities that it will pay greater attention to their priorities.

After a meeting of the Financial Stability Board in Australia, chairman Mark Carney pledged in a letter to G20 ministers that the organisation is turning its focus away from the causes of the financial crisis, and toward “new and constantly evolving risks and vulnerabilities”.

The International Monetary Fund has stepped back from any assumption of sovereign debt restructuring as a precondition to emergency assistance, but still faces criticism.

Researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have concluded that concerns over the Basel Committee’s net stable funding ratio (NSFR) may be exaggerated, following the most extensive global study to date. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has undertaken quantitative impact studies covering its 27 member jurisdictions. By contrast, staff in the IMF monetary and capital markets department took a sample of the largest banks in each of 128 countries, plus the top 100 banks worldwide by assets.

A working group convened by the Reserve Bank of India has put bank resolution on the agenda of the incoming Indian government, but analysts remain unsure whether it will be implemented. The working group has made recommendations that would include depositor preference over senior and subordinated bondholders, and an ‘ownership-neutral’ approach that would see India’s substantial state-owned banking sector receive the same treatment as privately owned banks.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a new paper on sovereign debt restructuring that represents a partial retreat from proposals made in May 2013. The multilateral lender had faced criticism after its bail-out of Greece in 2010, when it became clear that the government’s debt burden was not viable even after IMF assistance. Greece restructured its sovereign bonds in 2012, but questions remain about whether the government will be able to repay the volume of debt it now owes to official sector lenders including the IMF.

MUMBAI – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has added an extra year to the transitional period for local banks to meet Basel III capital requirements. The final implementation date is now March 31, 2019. At the same time, the central bank clarified guidelines on the loss-absorption features required in non-equity capital instruments such as subordinated debt. Such instruments must now have permanent rather than temporary write-down features to qualify as capital.

CAPE TOWN – Daniel Mminele, deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), said the Basel net stable funding ratio (NSFR) still posed a challenge for local banks, even after revisions made in January 2014. Speaking at a conference in March, Mr Mminele argued that the NSFR essentially favoured retail funding with maturities in excess of one year.