巴塞尔新规放宽是进步

Get with the cycle. An egregious unintended consequence of the great re-regulation post crisis was that, in haste to make banks safer, regulators removed any incentive for them to lend to the real economy. Unable to raise equity to meet new capital hurdles against strict deadlines, banks simply deleveraged. Banks were also required to build higher liquidity buffers to cushion them from runs.

顺势而为。“后危机时代大力加强监管的一大意外恶果是，监管机构为了迅速提升银行的安全性，已令银行丧失了向实体经济放贷的一切动力。由于无法在严格规定的期限前增加股本以达到新的最低资本比率，各家银行便采取了减少债务的对策。监管机构还要求银行建立更牢固的流动性缓冲，以抵御挤兑的冲击。

But banks (particularly those swept up in the eurozone debt crisis) struggled to amass liquidity by the deadline. The need to hamster away available liquidity left them disinclined to lend. Cue Sunday’s regulatory easing by the Basel committee on banking supervision.

但银行——尤其是在欧元区债务危机中遭重创的银行——很难在截止日期之前增加流动性。它们需要把可用的流动性储藏起来，因而不愿对外放贷。有鉴于此，巴塞尔银行监管委员会(BCBS)周日放宽了新的监管要求。

The committee has heeded bank concerns and revised the so-called liquidity coverage ratio, which forces banks to hold enough cash or easy-to-sell assets (such as sovereign debt) to withstand a 30-day funds outflow. The first such change extends the 2015 deadline for banks to get their act together: they must meet 60 per cent of the requirements by then, but comply fully only in 2019.

该委员会注意到银行的担忧，调整了所谓的流动性覆盖率(LCR)要求。这项规定要求银行必须持有足量的现金或易变现资产（如主权债券），以使自己能够承受住30天的资金流出。监管机构第一次进行这样的调整，把全面满足LCR要求的最终期限从原定的2015年加以推迟：到2015年，各银行的LCR须达到60%，但只需在2019年完全达标。

Synchronisation with Basel III’s capital requirements is practical. More important is the broadening of the definition of the high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) they can hold. Eurozone banks stuffed with their sovereign’s debt can breathe again. The relaxation is not as big as banks had hoped. But to include corporate debt rated A+ to triple B minus, double A rated residential mortgage-backed securities and certain equities – all subject to haircuts – is progress, even if in aggregate they can make up only 40 per cent of a bank’s HQLA.

分阶段达到巴塞尔III(Basel III)资本金要求是切实可行的。更重要的是，银行优质流动资产(HQLA)的定义被拓宽。持有本国主权债券的欧元区银行又可以松一口气了。标准放宽的幅度不如银行预期的那样大。但把“A+级至“BBB-级公司债、“AA级住房抵押贷款支持证券(RMBS)和某些股票（这几类均有减值可能）纳入HQLA，已算是进步了，即便这几个类别总计在一家银行HQLA中的比例不得超过40%。

The revisions will not at once lift depressed ratings of European and US banks, but should make the liquidity requirement less likely to deter financing of activity in the real economy. They should also sustain buoyant demand for corporate bonds, and kick-start the securitisation market. Investment bankers, for once, will not be complaining.

放宽标准将不会立刻提升欧美银行目前较差的评级状况，但调整后的流动性要求导致银行减少为实体经济活动提供资金支持的可能性较校放宽标准应当也会使公司债需求保持旺盛，并推动证券化市场复苏。这一次，投资银行家们也将不会怨声载道。

Lex专栏是由FT评论家联合撰写的短评，对全球经济与商业进行精辟分析