The International Payments Bank (BIS) received an attention-grabbing step by the Basel Committee. In the consultation document published by BIS on October 17, it was proposed to make it mandatory for banks to disclose their crypto risks. Recently, BIS, which announced its collaboration with Ripple, may continue to be on the agenda in the cryptocurrency markets for a long time.
Crypto Assets and the Traditional Financial System
The Basel Committee serves as a global regulatory platform for the regulation of banks. In the latest consultation document of the platform, which provides a forum for collaboration on banking supervision issues, an important issue was discussed. The report on how banks should handle crypto assets, published in December 2022, came to the agenda again, and possible steps to be taken in this regard were discussed.
The consultation document published for banks discusses many recommendations on how to manage crypto assets. In this report, January 1, 2025 was determined as the implementation date. Accordingly, a standardized crypto asset management will be established with an explanatory table and template set for banks. The Basel Committee opened the proposal, which will be published on the BIS website, to public opinion until January 31, 2024.
Topics Covered in the Report
According to the new regulations proposed by BIS officials, banks will be required to provide financial reports regarding capital and liquidity requirements related to crypto asset management. Banks will also be required to report to regulatory authorities about activities related to cryptocurrencies.
In addition to their obligations, banks will also be required to provide information about accounting classifications applied in crypto asset management. The Committee stated in the proposal that the use of a uniform disclosure format will encourage market discipline and reduce information asymmetry between banks and market participants.
The Basel Committee had reviewed crypto assets and bank regulations in June earlier this year. At that time, the committee did not delve deep into the issue but stated that they focused on unauthorized blockchain transactions and the compliance criteria for stablecoins referred to as “Group 1”.
BIS continues to provide the necessary guidelines regarding crypto regulations and specifically examines the legal aspect of blockchain technology. In the first week of October, BIS and the European Central Bank also announced that they had started working on developing a system to monitor international crypto flows.
