Says the BIS: 'Corporate governance for banking organisations is of great importance to the international financial system and merits targeted supervisory guidance. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published guidance in 1999 to assist banking supervisors in promoting the adoption of sound corporate governance practices by banking organisations in their countries. This guidance drew from principles of corporate governance that were published earlier that year by the OECD.

'Since the publication of those documents, issues related to corporate governance have continued to attract considerable national and international attention in light of a number of high-profile breakdowns in corporate governance. In response to requests to assess the OECD principles in view of such developments, the OECD published revised corporate governance principles in 2004. Recognising that revised guidance could also assist banking organisations and their supervisors in the implementation and enforcement of sound corporate governance, and in order to offer practical guidance that is relevant to the unique characteristics of banking organisations, the Basel Committee is publishing this revision to its 1999 guidance.'

The BIS says that the guidance does not constitute a formal part of the Basel II Framework, but that the principles set out in the guidelines are applicable regardless of whether or not a country chooses to adopt the Basel II Framework.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is a committee of banking supervisory authorities which was established by the central bank Governors of the Group of Ten countries in 1975. It consists of senior representatives of bank supervisory authorities and central banks from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. It usually meets at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland, where its permanent Secretariat is located.