October 22, 2025

Basel Committee’s bank regulations have empowered populist demagogues everywhere.

The world needs to understand how Basel Committee’s bank regulations have empowered populist demagogues of all shape, color or form, everywhere.

Sir, I refer to Martin Wolf’s “The hard task of exiting the populist trap” Financial Times, October 22, 2025.

Mr. Wolf writes: “We live in an age of populist dem­agogues. This is not a new phe­nomenon. Plato used the word “dem­agogue” in his cri­tique of democracy in The Repub­lic. He was cor­rect that demagogy is the Achilles heel of demo­cracy… How damaging is illus­trated by the fate of Argen­tina, a coun­try that has been plagued by populism since the rule of Hipólito Irigoyen in 1916.”

Sir, if the Basel Committee’s “We know enough about risks and so to make your banks safe, we give you our risk weighted bank capital/equity requirements”, is not a pure example of populist demagoguery, what is?

And with it, 1988, they de facto decreed that the populists/bureaucrats governing know better what to do with public debt, for which repayment they’re not personally responsible for, than the farmers, small businesses and entrepreneurs do with their bank loans.

Wouldn't Argentina’s Juan Domingo Peron have loved it? Of course, he would.

Sir, I ask, is that not a trap into which most of the world has fallen into? Anyone truly wanting to help Milei should look at it as a mutual problem and not one of which Argentina is supposed to climb out from on their own.

FT could be helpful if it begins to explain, without fear and without favour, how much Basel regulations distort the allocation of bank credit and with it, de facto, central banks’ monetary policies. 

Is it not a good time for that? Look at what is happening to all other economies, UK included. 

@PerKurowski

October 16, 2025

We most need to seek local solu­tions to local issues

Sir, I refer to Dani Rodrik’s “We should seek local solu­tions to global issues” FT October 16, 2025. He favors “Instead of top-down reg­u­la­tion and con­ven­tional sub­sidies, rely on open-ended col­lab­or­a­tion between pub­lic agen­cies and private act­ors.”

I fully agree with what's first mentioned, but I’m not so convinced about the what-to-do part; the documented track record of such collaborations is, except for some interested private actors, not that marvelous. Much more needed is to allow local non-governmental market solu­tions to local issues.

I had studied high school and university in Sweden so, after getting my MBA at IESA in 1974, I decided to travel around Venezuela for a full year, harvesting rice, sorghum and sunflowers. That in order to get to know my country better and, truth be told, to try to salvage an investment going sour.

That year left many indelible impressions and, among these, of the importance of banks in small cities and communities e.g., Calabozo. The presence of a local bank or of a branch loan officer from one of the larger banks, allowed local bankers to identify and respond directly to the needs of local farmers, small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Over the years little by little that all started to disappear before my eyes when many local banks, much to please the status seeking of its shareholders and directors, began to consolidate with the Big, or established their main office in the capital.

1988, with the Basel Committee’s risk weighted bank capital requirements, if colloquialisms are allowed, shit hit the fan.

By decreeing risk weighted bank capital requirements (insanely) based on that what’s perceived as risky is more dangerous to bank systems than what’s perceived or decreed) as safe, banks had to hold much more capital/equity against e.g., loans to small town businesses.

Out went the loan officers (like your George Banks who went to fly a kite) and in came the dangerously creative bank financial engineers... capable of expulsing the risks into the shadows. 

As I was not from the public sector, had in fact been quite critical of it, even before Hugo Chavez, strange circumstances and coincidences had me end up as an Executive Director at the World Bank, 2003/04. There I did what I could to voice my concerns, especially during the discussions of Basel II.

Not much luck in having these echoed… not there… not with Academia and not with the many NGOs purporting they defend the interests of developing countries. 

Why? I guess there is not too much interest and consultancy profit in banks of Calabozo and alikes

Fast forward to August 29, 2025. That day I asked both Grok and ChatGPT; “What is the impact on small cities of the risk weighted bank capital requirements?”


Sir, do you think the regulators will read and acknowledge AI’s answers?

PS. Here The document that I presented at the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Developing at the United Nations 2007.

@PerKurowski


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