BCBS: Frequently asked questions on the Basel III Countercyclical Capital Buffer

19 October 2015

To promote consistent implementation of the Basel III countercyclical capital buffer, the BCBS has issued FAQ and other supporting information. The information includes a list of all prevailing and pre-announced buffers, as well as developments related to domestic rule-making.

 The information is presented for both Basel Committee member jurisdictions, as well as select non-member jurisdictions. The dedicated website can be found here. This webpage will be updated as jurisdictions inform the Committee of changes to domestic countercylical capital buffer requirements. Interested stakeholders can sign up for a email alert when information is updated.

The countercyclical capital buffer regime will be phased-in in parallel with the capital conservation buffer between 1 January 2016 and end-2018, becoming fully effective on 1 January 2019. This means that, for example, if activated at a value of 2.5% of risk-weighted assets (RWA), reciprocity of up to 0.625% (2.5% divided by 4) of RWA is required on 1 January 2016 and this rate will increase each subsequent year by an additional 0.625 percentage points, to reach its final value of 2.5% of RWA on 1 January 2019. Jurisdictions may choose to reciprocate beyond these rates. Jurisdictions that experience excessive credit growth during this transition period may consider accelerating the build-up of the countercyclical buffer. 

Full press release

Full text

Supporting information for implementation of the countercyclical capital buffer published by the Basel Committee

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