Capital requirements under the credit risk-based framework

This work aims to study the hypothesis of lower capitalization of banks under the risk-based rules introduced in Basel II. In this sense, an assessment of the impact of these rules on the capital requirements for non-financial firms' credit risk is performed. A comparison with Basel I is presented and intervals of variation for the risk drivers such that capital requirements exceed the ones under Basel I are established. Data for a European country supports the hypothesis of a smaller capitalization of banks under the risk-based framework, as far as credit risk in concerned. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.