A global fight over banking rules is just getting started

Illustration: Satoshi Kambayashi

Apr 28th 2026|4 min read

ALMOST 18 YEARS ago, amid the global financial crisis, a document was released which was to have a profound impact on the banking system. The snappily named “Principles for Sound Liquidity Risk Management and Supervision” was penned by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a club of central banks. Walter Bagehot’s “Lombard Street” it was not; the principles are a dull read even for a financial nerd. But the report eventually led to the “Basel III” rules on banking supervision, named after the BIS’s Swiss home—and hence to vast new protective capital buffers.