The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published on 16 December 2022 on its website a press release to report that the Basel Committee’s oversight body had endorsed a global prudential standard for banks’ exposures to crypto-currencies, to be implemented by 1 January 2025.
On the same day, the Committee’s work programme for 2023–2024 was also endorsed, prioritising activities on the emerging threats and weaknesses, digitalisation, climate-related financial risks and Basel III implementation.
The endorsement of the prudential standard on banks’ crypto-asset exposures by the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), being the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, represents a milestone in developing the respective global regulatory baseline.
It is another example of the BIS’s engagement in globally coordinated actions aimed at mitigating the emerging threats to financial stability. The Committee’s work programme for 2023–2024, endorsed by the GHOS, aims to further strengthen regulation, supervision and banks’ practices around the world. The programmes focuses on the emerging threats, digitalisation, climate-related financial risks and Basel III monitoring and implementation.
Unsecured crypto-assets and stablecoin with ineffective stabilisation mechanisms are to be subject to conservative prudential treatment. The standard is to provide robust and prudent global regulatory framework for internationally active banks’ exposures to crypto-assets that promotes responsible innovation while preserving financial stability. The Committee will be responsible for monitoring the implementation and impact of the standard, to be implemented by 1 January 2025.