ABSTRACT
Local and Global Reactions: Diverging Paths In 2007, banking regulation all over the world was converging on the second version of the non-binding rule-set drafted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Basel II.1 Basel II constituted a global and inherently neoliberal regulatory platform. The basic regulatory strategy built on the balance sheet mediated risk sensitive capital adequacy regulatory paradigm. The technological setup allowed regulators to pursue what was the quintessential neoliberal regulatory strategy: to simultaneously, first, make banks safe and the international banking system stable and, second, refrain from affecting banks’ business decisions. The rules promoted stability, but simultaneously set no structural restrictions, banned no instruments and allowed all business models. Risk had to be adequately capitalized, that was all.2
