Basel I, the 1988 Basel Capital Accord, established the first widely adopted international minimum capital standards for banks.
The agreement was developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a committee of central banks and banking supervisors from major economies. Its central idea was that banks should hold capital in proportion to the credit risk of their assets. The initial framework set a target minimum capital ratio of 8 percent.
Basel I was created after concerns that differences in national regulation could encourage banks to move activity toward jurisdictions with weaker requirements. A common framework aimed to make banks more resilient and competition more consistent across borders.
Later agreements expanded the system. Basel II introduced more risk-sensitive rules, while Basel III followed the global financial crisis with stronger capital and liquidity requirements. Basel I therefore refers specifically to the original 1988 framework, not the later accords.