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Basel III and you On September 12, central bank governors along with the 27 bank regulators on the Basel committee finalized the draft of the long-awaited Basel III regulations on bank capitalization. The rules are meant to better fortify banks against a financial crash so that they may survive crisis without government support. The regulations contain the following requirements: Raise tier one capital from 4 percent to 6 percent by 2015.Maintain a capitalization buffer of 2.5 percent by January 2016, with the penalty for noncompliance being restrictions by regulators on payouts such as dividends, share buybacks and bonuses.Maintain common equity or loss-preventing capital buffer of 2.5 percent as soon as possible.Define tier one capital as mainly common equity and retained earnings — deferred tax assets, mortgage-servicing rights and investments in financial institutions may be counted no more than 15 percent of the common equity component.Cap overall leverage based on standards