During the negotiations, we will therefore call for higher risk to go hand in hand with higher capital requirements. Third, like the unearthing of the Ramses statue, the completion of the Basel reform package will take place in several stages. Some of these are very delicate and thus require a concerted effort from all those involved. Acceptable compromises must be made on all sides.
The gradual approach was required to give time to an inter-bank foreign currency market to develop, including the creation of financial instruments, traded and over the counter, to hedge against the exchange rate risk.