(i) Level 1 Assets
| 49. Level 1 assets can comprise an unlimited share of the pool and are not subject to a haircut under the LCR.11 However, national supervisors may wish to require haircuts for Level 1 securities based on, among other things, their duration, credit and liquidity risk, and typical repo haircuts. | ||
| 50. Level 1 assets are limited to: | ||
| (a) | coins and banknotes; | |
| (b) | central bank reserves (including required reserves),12 to the extent that the central bank policies allow them to be drawn down in times of stress;13 | |
| (c) | marketable securities representing claims on or guaranteed by sovereigns, central banks, PSEs, the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and European Community, or multilateral development banks,14 and satisfying all of the following conditions: | |
| • | assigned a 0% risk-weight under the Basel II Standardised Approach for credit risk;15 | |
| • | traded in large, deep and active repo or cash markets characterised by a low level of concentration; | |
| • | have a proven record as a reliable source of liquidity in the markets (repo or sale) even during stressed market conditions; and | |
| • | not an obligation of a financial institution or any of its affiliated entities.16 | |
| (d) | where the sovereign has a non-0% risk weight, sovereign or central bank debt securities issued in domestic currencies by the sovereign or central bank in the country in which the liquidity risk is being taken or in the bank’s home country; and | |
| (e) | where the sovereign has a non-0% risk weight, domestic sovereign or central bank debt securities issued in foreign currencies are eligible up to the amount of the bank’s stressed net cash outflows in that specific foreign currency stemming from the bank’s operations in the jurisdiction where the bank’s liquidity risk is being taken. | |
11 For purpose of calculating the LCR, Level 1 assets in the stock of HQLA should be measured at an amount no greater than their current market value.
12 In this context, central bank reserves would include banks’ overnight deposits with the central bank, and term deposits with the central bank that: (i) are explicitly and contractually repayable on notice from the depositing bank; or (ii) that constitute a loan against which the bank can borrow on a term basis or on an overnight but automatically renewable basis (only where the bank has an existing deposit with the relevant central bank). Other term deposits with central banks are not eligible for the stock of HQLA; however, if the term expires within 30 days, the term deposit could be considered as an inflow per paragraph 154.
13 Local supervisors should discuss and agree with the relevant central bank the extent to which central bank reserves should count towards the stock of liquid assets, ie the extent to which reserves are able to be drawn down in times of stress.
14 The Basel III liquidity framework follows the categorisation of market participants applied in the Basel II Framework, unless otherwise specified.
15 Paragraph 50(c) includes only marketable securities that qualify for Basel II paragraph 53. When a 0% risk-weight has been assigned at national discretion according to the provision in paragraph 54 of the Basel II Standardised Approach, the treatment should follow paragraph 50(d) or 50(e).
16 This requires that the holder of the security must not have recourse to the financial institution or any of the financial institution's affiliated entities. In practice, this means that securities, such as government-guaranteed issuance during the financial crisis, which remain liabilities of the financial institution, would not qualify for the stock of HQLA. The only exception is when the bank also qualifies as a PSE under the Basel II Framework where securities issued by the bank could qualify for Level 1 assets if all necessary conditions are satisfied.