ABSTRACT

The regulation of bank capital has evolved from minimum capital requirements for joint-stock banks to elaborate risk-based capital adequacy rules. How did these regulations come about? How and why have they changed over time in different coutnries? Sweden began to regulate minimum capital in the nineteenth century. In 1911 an early version of capital adequacy was introduced. In addition to stringent regulation a separate inspection agency was given wide-ranging powers to ensure compliance. Britain also had minimum capital rules in place but during the twentieth century these two countries followed different paths in regulation and supervision of capital rules. This paper examines the Swedish case in detail and contrasts that with the British case. It is suggested that their respective civil and common law traditions may explain the divergent approaches to defining and regulating capital adequacy.

摘要

银行资本监管已经从对股份制银行的最低资本要求演变为制定基于风险的资本充足率规则。这些规定是怎么来的？随着时间的推移，它们在不同的国家是如何以及为什么发生变化的？瑞典在 19 世纪开始规范最低资本。1911 年引入了资本充足率的早期版本。除了严格的监管之外，一个独立的检验机构被赋予了广泛的权力来确保合规。英国也制定了最低资本规则，但在 20 世纪，这两个国家在资本规则的监管和监督方面采取了不同的路径。本文详细考察了瑞典的案例，并将其与英国的案例进行了对比。