BASEL II: PROBLEMS AND USAGE

y weights of the business lines, which range from 12 to 18 percent. In
contrast, in the AMA a bank can calculate the capital requirements for operational
risk using an internal model. This method requires a prior approval
of the FFSA. Another opportunity laid down by the Solvency Regulation
is the partial use of the AMA, i.e. the bank may use the AMA to
calculate the capital charge for only a part of the bank. In order to facilitate
the application of the Solvency Regulation, the FFSA provides guidelines
and interpretations of the Solvency Regulation’s requirements.
The Solvency Regulation also incorporates the new disclosure requirements
of pillar III of Basel II, according to which banks have to publish
all necessary information either annually or semiannually, depending
on the bank’s type. This information includes capital structure, capital adequacy,
and information on market, credit and operational risk as well as risk
management procedures. In case of banking groups, disclosure requirements
are applicable to the top of the group. In addition, banks are not required to
disclose legally protected or confidential information. However, in the two
latter cases banks are obliged to publish more general information about the
facts that they are not able to disclose.
4.3.2. Minimum Requirements for Risk Management
Qualitative requirements of the second pillar of Basel II are reflected
in the MaRisk, providing a regulatory framework for the new qualitative
supervisory system in Germany. The MaRisk reflect section 25a of the
Banking Act which requires an adequate risk management system. The
MaRisk were published in 2005 and replaced the old regulations, which established
qualitative requirements for the risk management in single business
units, namely the “Minimum Requirements for the Trading Activities
of Credit Institutions“ (MaH), the “Minimum Requirements for the Internal
Audits of Credit Institutions” (MaIR), and the “Minimum Requirements for
the Credit Business of Credit Institutions“ (MaK). Figure 7 represents this
development.
MaH
MaIR
MaK
MaRisk
1995
2000
2002 2005
Figure 7. Development of the Minimum Requirements
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