In response to the G20 Leaders’ request at the Seoul Summit in November 2010, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has developed policy recommendations to strengthen oversight and regulation of shadow banking. In October 2014, the FSB published a report on Strengthening Oversight and Regulation of Shadow Banking – Regulatory framework for haircuts on non-centrally cleared securities financing transactions1 (“FSB 2014”) which specified the regulatory framework for haircuts on non-centrally cleared securities financing transactions (SFTs), and introduced a framework for haircut floors for non-centrally cleared SFTs.
As part of this framework, the FSB recommended that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) incorporate the haircut floors into the capital requirements for non-centrally cleared SFTs by setting significantly higher capital requirements for transactions with haircuts traded below the haircut floors.
The objective of the proposal presented in this consultative document is to create incentives for banks to set their collateral haircuts above the floors rather than hold more capital.