33  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  33  Chart 13: How Americans of different ages got their news in 2016  Age Group 18-29  30-49  50-64  65+  5  10  23  28  29  24  29  20  Newspaper Radio  27  14  Online  49  50  TV  27 Per cent  85  72  45  Per cent  Per cent  Per cent  Source: Pew Research Centre (Barthel et al, 2016).
Whenever I speak with colleagues from other countries, I stress that only national authorities can decide when to adopt Basel II. Members of the Basel Committee believe that it is beneficial to move in the direction of Basel II, but no country should adopt Basel II if it feels that it is not yet ready. If a country does decide to adopt Basel II, the timing should be determined by its own circumstances, not the timetable for Basel Committee members. I hope you will pardon my pronunciation, but I am told that there is a Turkish proverb that says “hamama giren terler,” or “he who enters a Turkish bath sweats.” If I understand correctly, the point of this proverb is that you should understand the consequences of your actions. If the result is to be very positive, some work and thus some sweat is required. I don’t know whether adopting Basel II is similar to entering a Turkish bath, but I do know that it is important to understand that this is a high-quality and demanding standard. Unlike the 1988 Accord, which was relatively simple to adopt, Basel II is more complex and demands more of banks and supervisors. Therefore, we don’t expect Basel II to be adopted as widely and quickly as the 1988 Accord, at least at the outset. However, we do believe it is appropriate for all economies, and we expect and hope that the number of countries that adopt the new framework will grow over time.