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29 May 2017

Reuters: EU needs simple capital rules for euro zone banking union: Villeroy


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The European Union needs to set simple rules on bank capital to complete its project of bringing banks in the euro zone under a sole EU supervisor, ECB Governing Board member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said.


Speaking in his role as head of the ACPR French financial sector regulator, Villeroy said the EU also needed better coordination between the European Central Bank's single supervisor, the European Commission and national regulators.

"Two and a half years after banking union, there has been clear progress, but its construction is not yet finished. We need to finish the resolution pillar with completed and more simple rules," Villeroy told journalists in Paris.

Villeroy also called for a rapid solution to bank troubles in Italy and Portugal, saying it was "not normal" that local problems weighed on overall European banking sector.

Following the launch of the single EU bank supervisor for the euro zone, regulators have focused on coming up with new global minimum bank capital rules in the Basel Committee of supervisors.

Banks have dubbed the remaining capital rules "Basel IV", meaning a step change in capital from Basel III, the existing set of rules that were rushed through after the 2007-2009 banking crisis and aimed to toughen up capital requirements.

European banks in the euro zone have voiced concern that proposed rules could limit their use of internal models to calculate risk exposure in favor of a so-called standard method, which the banks say would not reflect specific business realities as accurately.

Villeroy also urged the United States not to roll back regulations in place since the financial crisis as President Donald Trump has said he would do.

He also repeated a call for clearing large euro transactions in countries covered by Eurosystem supervision, which includes both the ECB and the 19 euro zone central banks. "After Brexit, we don't see how this could be in London," he added.

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Full speech (in French)



© Reuters


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