FRTB IMA DRC and the 3 Basis Point Floor

As part of the default risk charge (DRC) in the internal models approach (IMA) within the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB), the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has set a floor of 3 basis points (bp) for the probability of default (PD) of any entity. This input floor applies to all entities and primarily impacts the highest rated AAA sovereigns.

There has been no evidence published to date to support the calibration of the 3 bps floor and as local jurisdictions implement FRTB, some jurisdictions have already published their intentions to adjust this floor.

This paper provides quantitative and qualitative analysis in support of the removal of the PD floor. The paper uses the Bayesian inference model to estimate the probability distribution of rare events (eg, defaults of highly-rated entities) and sensitivity analysis is performed to demonstrate its robustness.

Documents (1) for FRTB IMA DRC and the 3 Basis Point Floor

Market Transformation – IQ May 2026

On the 250th anniversary of American independence, this year’s ISDA Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held in Boston, a city that played a prominent role in the American Revolution. In his opening remarks, ISDA chief executive Scott O’Malia drew a...

Letter to EC and ESMA on Derivatives Framework

On March 27, ISDA sent a letter to the European Commission (EC) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to highlight several technical issues arising from the interaction between the delegated regulation (EU) 2025/1003 on identifying reference data to...