Argentina in default for second time in 13 years

S&P declares Argentina to be in default for the second time in 13 years and the third in 25. Inflation is likely to hit 40% this year and the Peso has already lost a quarter of its value this year, measured against the US Dollar. Messages? This time isn’t different, sovereign debt crises happen all …

Argentina teetering towards default

I’ve been working with a few insurers and reinsurers on credit risk recently. We’ve had plenty of reasons to think about it, what with new regulations (SAM, Basel III) and South African government downgrades. However, sometimes I get the impression that credit risk is viewed as an academic risk, as something that happens to others, …

SAM and Basel III deadlines

Seems like the SARB is requiring South African banks to adopt Basel III (or the tweaks to Basel II that people are calling Basel III) in line with international developments. Meanwhile, it seems the FSB is still committed to a 2014 deadline for SAM. Given the range and size of stumbling blocks still to be …

The cost of regulation

Basel II (and the collection of changes called “Basel II” by some), King III, Solvency II / SAM, IFRS changes, Treating Customers Fairly, FICA, Protection of Personal Information, RE exams and of course RICA all cost a small fortune.  Only the last doesn’t affect financial services companies.  No wonder the major industry concern is over-regulation.

Basel III likely to be tempered

The FT has an article (Banks win battle to tone down Basel III) describing how the proposed new rules for banking capital requirements might have some of the new requirements around liquidity removed or weakened. Key amongst these new considerations is the limitation of mismatches between the term of assets and liabilities, which would limit the danger …