Mumbai, Sept. 21 -- Accordingly, the Reserve Bank of India has today issued the Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks - Minimum Capital Requirements for Market Risk) Directions, 2026. The Directions aim to align the market risk guidelines with the revised Basel III framework, as part of RBI's adoption of the Basel standards, while ensuring simplicity of regulations, and providing flexibility, and ease of adoption. The Directions will take effect from April 1, 2027, ensuring sufficient lead time for banks.

The major changes in the final Directions vis-a-vis the draft guidelines:

(1) Scope of the trading book: Since the Investment Directions provide a clearly identifiable trading book under 'Held for Trading (HFT)' accounting sub-classi...