Competitiveness concerns To address the uncertainty of moving ahead with these two regulatory capital initiatives, we expect to remain vigilant about potentially unintended and undesired consequences that might have competitive effects on a certain class of banks or specific product lines.
In that vein, the Federal Reserve has published several white papers analyzing the potential impact of Basel II on specific aspects of banking, such as small-business lending, mortgage lending, and mergers and acquisitions. A paper on credit cards is expected before year-end.