By 2012, even those banks that came through the crisis intact were undertaking major strategic overhauls and scaling back risk-weighted assets. The painful economic environment, especially in the EU, is part of the reason, but the tide of new regulation is perhaps more significant, because it is expected to be more sustained.
But there is still widespread uncertainty on what the final map of global regulation will look like. In a survey of banking executives carried out by Ernst & Young during a series of round tables held in association with The Banker in the final quarter of 2012, 57% of respondents listed regulatory uncertainty as the number one obstacle to implementing new capital and liquidity requirements – well ahead of data, skills or operational limitations.
