The new, more risk sensitive framework for the calculation of banks’ capital requirements, introduced by the Basel Accord and known as “Basel II”, was initially intended for the internationally active banks. In Europe it will take the form of the Capital Requirements Directive and it will be implemented by all banks irrespective of size and focus as well as by investment firms.
6 According to Bank Lending Survey data. 7 Altavilla C., M. Boucinha and J.-L. Peydró (2017), “Monetary Policy and Bank Profitability in aLow Interest Rate  Environment”, forthcoming. 8 See Draghi, M. (2017), “Accompanying the economic recovery”, speech at the ECB Forum on Central Banking,  Sintra, 27 June 2017. 9 ECB (2015), “Effects of E-Commerce on Inflation”, Box 6, Economic Bulletin Issue 2.