Basel Sovereign Debt Rules Not Changing Anytime Soon: Bove

Banks could be looking at even higher capital requirements if the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) implements new rules that would prevent them from treating all government bonds as risk-free, even though Greece defaulted during the Euro zone sovereign debt crisis and other countries in the EU periphery came close, report Viktoria Dendrinou and David Enrich for The Wall Street Journal. But Rafferty Capital Markets VP of Equity Research Richard X. Bove argues that there’s no way the rules change will happen in the next decade.

Sovereign debt treated as risk-free, despite recent crisis

The rationale behind the change is easy to understand. Basel III compares a bank’s common...