Most large, internationally active banks in America, Britain and Switzerland already meet the new requirements.

ECONOMIST: Finance

Significantly, it proposes that internal ratings, which were originally to be used only by a few internationally active banks, should be applied to a wider range of financial institutions.

ECONOMIST: It is time for a more radical approach to banking regulation

In 1988 bank regulators from the richest countries agreed that the capital of internationally active banks should, with a few variations, amount to at least 8% of the value of their risky assets.

ECONOMIST: The business of banking | The

The proposals are based on the work of the Basle committee on banking supervision, which represents bank supervisors in the big industrial countries, and has spent several years designing a new framework to set minimum capital standards for internationally active banks.

ECONOMIST: Don��t bank on Brussels