Rail Industry continues to express concerns about the Basel Committee proposals

7th October 2016

The rail industry continues to express serious concern about the impact of proposals by the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Banking Supervision based in Basel. These proposals threaten to increase the capital requirements of banks financing secured lending or leasing of rolling stock and correspondingly increase the banks’ margins and costs to operators. The Rail Working Group has argued that the proposals are deficient since they fail to take into account the inherent stable nature of rolling stock as an asset class and then the additional security which will be provided by the Luxembourg Protocol. See past consultations and representations here.

The influential on-line Brussels based magazine Politico this week carried a detailed article on this problem entitled “Europe’s transport industry seeks to derail tougher bank capital rules” which makes direct reference to the Luxembourg Rail Protocol. See the complete article here.