Banks catching up to meet Basel II

MALAYSIA’S 10 anchor banks ”are catching up” despite being two to three years behind Singapore banks and nearly five years behind their European counterparts in their preparations for Basel II, a banking risk management expert said. 

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) regional executive director (financial risk management) Pedro Garcia told StarBiz in an interview that most Malaysian banks were still in their “initial stages” to meet the stringent risk management requirements of the new Basel Capital Accord – also known as Basel II – that Bank Negara wants in place in less than four years’ time.