ABSTRACT
Market pressures more precisely speaking, the misperception of operation of market pressures was an important factor. Such external pressures provided strong incentives for all three case countries such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan; regardless of whether or not they had Basel Committee membership; to comply at least formally with the Accord. Remarkably, however, the contribution of external pressures to effective Accord compliance was very limited. The risk of market closures in foreign countries gave the bank regulatory authorities in Japan, Korea and Taiwan firm incentives for adhering to the Basel Accord. Until the 1997 financial crisis, foreign loans had traditionally been critical to Korea's economic development, as the country's saving rate was usually less than its investment rate. Market participants did not accept the Accord as an appropriate capital regulation due to its flaws in terms of finance theory. Major market participants themselves also contributed to strengthening the misperception of market compliance pressures for the Accord.
