nout wellink : basel iii and the impact on financial markets speech by mr nout wellink, president of the netherlands bank and chairman of the basel committee on banking supervision, at the ing basel iii financing conference, amsterdam, 14 april 2011. * * * it is has been three and a half years since the global financial crisis began. the banking sector and financial system now seem to have stabilised. but this required unprecedented public sector interventions, and significant risks remain. despite the severity of the crisis, we are already seeing signs that its lessons are beginning to fade. at the same time, there are still significant risks on the horizons, while key reforms still need to be carried through if we are to achieve a truly stable banking and financial system. the basel iii framework is the cornerstone of the g20 regulatory reform agenda and the basel committee rules were issued at the end of last year. this development is the result of an unprecedented process of coordination across 27 countries. compared to basel ii, it was also achieved in record time, less than two years. the next step, which is just as critical as the policy development, is implementation. consistent and timely global implementation of the minimum standards of basel iii is critical to ensure longer - term banking sector and economic stability. some countries may choose to implement higher standards to address risks particular to their national contexts, examples of which so far are switzerland and sweden. this has always been an option under basel i and ii, and it will remain the case under basel iii. to minimise the transition costs, the basel iii requirements will be phased in gradually from 1 january 2013. this morning i would like to discuss with you the impact of basel iii on financial markets. in addition, i would like to focus on a key remaining area of policy development work, which is dealing with the risks of systemically important banks. the liquidity framework i am aware that the impact of basel iii on financial markets is especially interlinked with the new funding and liquidity ratios. let me therefore first say a few words about new the liquidity standards. weak liquidity profiles of banks were one of the core elements of the crisis, and they therefore represent a critical part of the regulatory framework going forward. overall there is broad support for the liquidity framework introduced by the basel committee. banks and other market participants already use methods similar to the liquidity coverage ratio ( lcr ) and the net stable funding ratio ( nsfr ). many of the issues that have been

the outlook for the non - commodity exporters remains bright, with growth rates of more than 6 percent in countries such as cote d ’ ivoire, ethiopia, kenya, and senegal. the other development that altered many people ’ s view of africa, were the political and security - related improvements. while africa is, unfortunately, still the continent where most conflicts take place, the absolute number of conflicts in africa has declined over the past 25 years. many of the wars of the 1990s have ended, and despite some ongoing and intensifying conflicts in north africa and the middle east, overall africa nowadays seems to be more peaceful than in the early 1990s. moreover, since the start of this millennium democratic governance has improved and institutional reforms have taken place in many countries, be it from a low level. at the same time, business environments have taken a turn for the better. while the starting point was perhaps less than auspicious, it is very encouraging to see that african countries as benin and senegal nowadays often appear among the global top 10 reformers in the world bank ’ s “ ease of doing business ” indicators. due to these promising developments, africa has become a region that boasts strong business opportunities, both for african entrepreneurs and for foreign ones. also dutch firms are increasingly aware of these opportunities. for instance, nowadays more than 2, 000 dutch firms are doing business in africa, ranging from smaller – mainly trade - oriented – companies to major dutch companies such as heineken, unilever and philips. africa is also increasingly important for dutch exports and imports. among the 20 most important emerging countries to which dutch exports are destined, 9 are situated in africa, with togo, ghana and senegal even in the top 5. and, according to statistics netherlands, about 70 percent of our imported roses come from africa, where, by the way, also dutch rose growers are active. certainly, africa works for dutch entrepreneurs! the second reason why i am delighted to be here is the theme of the conference : innovation in finance. in my view, this is a very well - chosen topic. new technologies are changing our lives and our industries. also finance is undergoing a rapid transformation, most visibly in the field of payment transfers, but also in lending, insurance and, importantly, remittances. the advent of smart phones, for instance, has led to the development of new mobile wallets, which makes it easy to “ send money home ” : goodbye long unsafe travels, hello smart phones