Arquitectura financera: el sabater i el banquer

El gros de la resposta del Comitè de Supervisió Bancària de Basilea davant la crisi financera iniciada el 2007 no va arribar fins al cap de la reunió de març de 2009 quan el Comitè va anunciar la necessitat de reforçar el nivell i, sobretot, la qualitat del capital del sistema bancari, així com la introducció d'una «mesura no basada en el risc» (un coeficient màxim de palanquejament) com a complement al requeriment de capital basat en el risc, uns «matalassos de capital» per mitigar la prociclicitat i uns estàndards de liquiditat. Mesures totes elles que van comptar amb el suport dels líders del G20. Basilea III es construeix sobre la base i la permanència de Basilea II, manté la seva sensibilitat al risc i la seva estructura, reexamina aspectes rellevants incorporant lliçons de la crisi, inclou aspectes no tractats a Basilea II com, per exemple, la qualitat del capital i el tractament del risc de liquiditat i introdueix una perspectiva macroprudencial.The bulk of the response of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to the financial crisis which started in 2007 did not appear until after the meeting in March 2009, when the Committee announced the need to strengthen the level and especially the quality of capital of the banking system, and the introduction of a non-risk-based measure (a maximum leverage ratio) as a complement to capital requirements based on risk, some capital cushions to mitigate procyclicality, and standards of liquidity. All these measures have had the support of the leaders of the G20. Basel III, which is built on the basis and endurance of Basel II, maintains its sensitivity to risk and structure. Basel III re-examines notable aspects, incorporating lessons from the crisis, and includes issues not dealt with in Basel II, as for example the quality of capital and the treatment of the risk of liquidity, introducing a macro-prudential perspective

New Abundant Microbial Groups in Aquatic Hypersaline Environments

We describe the microbiota of two hypersaline saltern ponds, one of intermediate salinity (19%) and a NaCl saturated crystallizer pond (37%) using pyrosequencing. The analyses of these metagenomes (nearly 784 Mb) reaffirmed the vast dominance of Haloquadratum walsbyi but also revealed novel, abundant and previously unsuspected microbial groups. We describe for the first time, a group of low GC Actinobacteria, related to freshwater Actinobacteria, abundant in low and intermediate salinities. Metagenomic assembly revealed three new abundant microbes: a low-GC euryarchaeon with the lowest GC content described for any euryarchaeon, a high-GC euryarchaeon and a gammaproteobacterium related to Alkalilimnicola and Nitrococcus. Multiple displacement amplification and sequencing of the genome from a single archaeal cell of the new low GC euryarchaeon suggest a photoheterotrophic and polysaccharide-degrading lifestyle and its relatedness to the recently described lineage of Nanohaloarchaea. These discoveries reveal the combined power of an unbiased metagenomic and single cell genomic approach

Feasibility assessment of poplar bioenergy systems in the Southern Europe

A detailed reliability assessment of bioenergy production systems based on poplar cultivation was made. The aim of this assessment was to demonstrate the Economic feasibility of implementing poplar biomass production for power generation in Spain. The assessment considers the following chain of energy generation: cultivation and harvesting, and transportation and electricity generation in biomass power plants (10, 25 and 50 MW). Twelve scenarios were analysed in accordance with the following: two harvesting methods (high density packed stems and chip production in the field), two crop distributions around the power plant and three power plant sizes. The results show that the cost of biomass delivered at power plant ranges from 18.65 to 23.96 [euro] Mg-1 dry basis. According to power plant size, net profits range from 3 to 22 million [euro] per yr. Sensibility analyses applied to capital cost at the power plant and to biomass production in the field demonstrate that they do not affect the feasibility of these systems. Reliability is improved if benefits through selling CO2 emission credits are taken into account. This study clears up the Economic uncertainty of poplar biomass energy systems that already has been accepted as environmentally friendlier and as offering better energetic performance.Energy crops Supply chain Power plant Final biomass cost