Friday, October 7, 2011

Should not Basel bank regulators have at least a B.A. in regulations?

I am just a humble MBA and which is why even though I more than almost anyone warned publicly about that the current financial crisis was doomed to happen as a result of Basel II, I do not get invited to explain my arguments at all those seminars at the World Bank, IMF and other high places, where so many the Monday morning quarterbacks PhDs get to be invited to speak, year after year,… but that’s ok, c’est la vie… or at least c’est la vie moderne. 

That said I ask though, should not bank regulators, like those in the Basel Committee at least be required to have a B.A. in regulations before going global with their occurrences? Or is there such a thing like a Master or a PhD in regulations? 

I say this because the current bank regulators did not behave like sensible and prudent regulators. Let me give you just but three of the so many examples: 

Should not bank regulators be more concerned about credit ratings being wrong than being correct? Of course they should, but the current bank regulators construed their regulations around capital requirements for banks based on the ex-ante perceived risks being correct. 

Should not bank regulators be more concerned about how bankers react to the ex-ante perceived risks? Of course they should, but the current bank regulators construed their regulations around their own reactions to ex-ante perceived risks. 

Should not bank regulators know that the only bank exposures that can grow so excessively as to generate a systemic crisis, the only ones able to generate huge unpleasant surprises, are the exposures to what is ex-ante perceived as “not-risky”? Of course they should!

In short, we do not need regulators who substitutes for bank and financial experts, we need regulators who complement bank and financial experts.

Here is a video that explains a small portion of the craziness of our current bank regulations, in an apolitical red and blue! http://bit.ly/mQIHoi