RBI issues amendments to Basel 3 norms.

The Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to issue additional Tier 1 capital instruments, the principal amount of which would absorb losses, either through conversion into common shares or a write-down mechanism that allocates the losses to the instruments, either temporarily or permanently. The limits on admissibility of excess additional Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital for computing and reporting Tier 1 capital and CRAR (capital adequacy ratio) have been withdrawn. Accordingly, a bank having met the minimum capital requirements may admit excess additional Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital for the purpose of reporting.  (Hindu Businessline dated 01.09.2014)