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22 January 2012

FT: Paris and Berlin seek to dilute bank rules


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A joint paper by Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, and his French counterpart, François Baroin, will call for important elements of the Basel III rules to be watered down to mitigate any "negative effect" on growth.


A draft of the paper seen by the Financial Times calls for special treatment for banks that own insurance companies, and for a three-year delay to the mandatory deadline to disclose leverage ratios, a measure of bank borrowing and risk.

The demands will delight some bankers but are likely to infuriate policymakers in London, who have been fighting hard to stop French-led attempts to dilute the Basel III accord.

According to the draft proposal, Mr Baroin and Mr Schäuble warn that a rush to implement the rules could crimp lending capacity and severely affect the real economy. “European institutions should agree on achieving the EU financial market regulation agenda while taking due consideration of its impact on the financing of the real economy”, the draft proposal states.

The draft Franco-German statement supports tweaking the rules to help banks support small and medium-sized businesses by allowing them to set aside less capital against specific loans.

Full article (FT subscription needed)



© Financial Times


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