Basel III endgame

"Basel III endgame" is the informal US name for implementing the final set of Basel III capital standards, which the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published on 7 December 2017 as Basel III: Finalising post-crisis reforms. The standards change how banks calculate risk-weighted assets: stronger standardized approaches for credit and operational risk, limits on the use of internal models, and an output floor that caps how far modeled capital requirements can fall below the standardized result. The Committee's governors deferred implementation to 1 January 2023, with the output floor phasing in until 1 January 2028.

Each jurisdiction implements the standards in its own law. The EU did so through its CRR3 banking package, and the UK calls its version Basel 3.1. In the US, the OCC, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC proposed their version in July 2023, together with a revised market risk framework for banks with significant trading activity. It was published at 88 FR 64028 on 18 September 2023, with comments due by 30 November 2023, and was not finalized.

On 27 March 2026 the agencies published a new proposal, 91 FR 14952, aimed at Category I and II banking organizations and at banks with significant trading activity, with optional adoption for other banking organizations. Its comment period closed on 18 June 2026.

As of 30 September 2026, we found no final rule in the Federal Register. Compliance and finance teams at covered banks should treat the endgame as a proposal whose scope, calibration and dates can still change, and track it through the consultation and final-rule stages of the regulatory lifecycle rather than planning against the 2023 text.

This entry is general information, not legal advice.