European Bank funding threatened as Basel III meets Solvency II

29 March 2011

Bloomberg reports that European banks are being forced to sell more long-term bonds as regulators seek to prevent another financial crisis. European insurers say their own regulator will stop them from buying such debt.

Basel III’s liquidity rules mean European banks may need to raise as much as €2.3 trillion ($3.2 trillion) in long-term funding, according to New York-based McKinsey & Co. Insurers, the biggest buyers of such debt, are being dissuaded from buying long-term bonds under the European Union’s Solvency II rules, which makes them more expensive to hold.

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