Liberté surveillée, supervision bancaire et globalisation financière au Comité de Bâle, 1974-1988

Abstract

Based on archival material from various central banks, international organisations, commercial banks, and on several interviews, this thesis examines the history of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, from its creation in 1974 to the Basel Agreement on Capital Adequacy of 1988. Departing from the existing literature which has either adopted a state power approach or produced an almost official history of the Committee, it analyses the various dimensions of the Committee's history, from the role of individual countries' financial and political systems to the networks of actors involved. It contends that the Basel Committee's actions cannot be explained simply in terms of the balance of power between member countries, but that other elements have to be taken into consideration in order to improve our understanding of its inner workings. Among these elements are its social and cultural dimensions, which underline the process of “making” regulation. The thesis concludes that the Basel Committee evolved from what was basically a forum for international policy exchange into a full-blown institution. This can be ascribed to the international context, most notably European integration, American pressure resulting from the Debt Crisis, and the on-going internationalisation of banking activities, and to the Committee’s own activities and its increasing visibility over the period considered. It participated in the broader evolution of financial governance characterised by the simultaneous embrace of more liberal regulation and closer supervision. The Basel Agreement on Capital Adequacy was not only the result of "Anglo-Saxon" pressure, but also emerged from the desire of most countries to reinforce their banks' capitalisation, the convergence exercise conducted at the European level, and the increasing focus of regulators on capital as a regulatory tool. The Basel Committee participated in the construction of a more global financial market.