Basel as a Brand of Global Governance: Institute on Governance, Basel Convention — conclusion

Conclusion of the chapter

"Basel" has become a name for international regimes through a long accumulation of history and institutions. The Council of the fifteenth century, the Peace of 1795, the Basel Mission and the First Zionist Congress of 1897 established the city as a neutral and practical meeting place. The BIS and the Basel Committee gave the name its financial meaning. The Basel Convention, adopted in the city in 1989 and administered from Geneva, carried it into environmental law, while the Basel Institute on Governance and swisspeace extended it to public governance, anti-corruption policy and peacebuilding.

The brand is a valuable asset for the city and its financial centre, although nobody owns it and nobody can protect it. Its credibility depends on the quality of the standards and on the conduct of the institutions that carry the name. The financial crisis of 2007 to 2009, the fall of Credit Suisse and the criticism of the BIS have shown how quickly that credibility can be tested. For practitioners, the brand remains a daily reference, a common language that links lawyers, bankers and supervisors across jurisdictions and that gives a medium-sized city on the Rhine a place in global governance far beyond its size.

Conclusion of Part F

Part F has followed the transformation of Basel into a capital of international financial governance. Chapter I described the Bank for International Settlements, founded in 1930, its unique legal status under its Constituent Charter and the Headquarters Agreement of 1987, and the governance through which its member central banks direct it. Chapter II traced the work of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision from its founding after the Herstatt crisis of 1974 through Basel I, Basel II and Basel III to the final reforms of 2017. Chapter III examined the Swiss implementation of these standards, which entered into force on 1 January 2025, and the debate that followed the fall of Credit Suisse, including the write-down of Additional Tier 1 instruments and the proposals for stricter capital requirements for UBS.

Chapter IV turned to the other bodies that the BIS hosts or supports: the Financial Stability Board, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, the International Association of Deposit Insurers, the Financial Stability Institute and the BIS Innovation Hub. The present chapter showed how all of these institutions, together with the Basel Convention and the Basel Institute on Governance, have made "Basel" a brand of global governance. The city's international role thus rests on institutions whose influence far exceeds the size of its domestic banking sector. Its economic weight, however, rests above all on another foundation, which Part G examines: the pharmaceutical and chemical industry that has made Basel a world centre of the life sciences and turned them into a financial pillar of the city.

In five sentences

1.The Bank for International Settlements, founded in Basel in 1930, enjoys a unique status under international law and Swiss host-state agreements and is governed by its member central banks as the central bank of central banks.

2.The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, created after the Herstatt crisis of 1974, developed the Basel I, Basel II and Basel III accords, which define the global standards for bank capital and liquidity.

3.Switzerland implemented the final Basel III package on 1 January 2025, while the fall of Credit Suisse and the write-down of its AT1 instruments triggered a debate on stricter capital rules for UBS.

4.The BIS hosts or supports the FSB, the IAIS, the CPMI, the IADI, the Financial Stability Institute and the BIS Innovation Hub, which together form the Basel Process of international financial cooperation.

5.Through the BIS, the Basel Convention, the Basel Institute on Governance and older historical events, the city's name has become a global brand of governance whose credibility depends on the institutions that carry it.

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.