Phasing-in Basel III capital and liquidity requirements in post-revolution Egypt.

Abstract

The Basel Committee has introduced a new set of capital and liquidity requirements to be introduced by the global banking system during 2013 till January 2019. Egypt possesses a well-capitalised banking sector, yet it has been exposed to the devastating shock imposed by its popular revolution. Using the GMM method, the impact of introducing the new capital and liquidity requirements on the macroeconomic performance of the Egyptian economy is examined. The results reveal that Egyptian banks are motivated to enhance capital and liquidity ratios in the case of realizing high profits and favourable conditions at the individual banking level. On the other hand, negative macroeconomic performance and a poor business environment substantially deter the preparedness of Egyptian banks to meet the Basel III requirements. The analysis is timely given the need for compliance with Basel III as one of the requirements to raise the credit rating of the devastated economy.