Global bank regulators close to Basel deal

Thursday, 12 October 2017 00:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Frankfurt (Reuters): Global regulators are close to reaching an agreement on new banking rules designed to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, the German central bank’s representative at the talks said on Wednesday. Andreas Dombret’s comments confirm a Reuters report on Tuesday that a decade-long effort to finalise the Basel III rules, aimed at making banks more resilient to financial shocks after a string of bailouts, is nearing its end.

“We, the Basel Committee...currently work on the final piece to complete global regulatory reforms after the financial crisis ...and we are close to an agreement,” Dombret, a director at the Bundesbank, told an audience in New York. The struggle to finalise Basel III is a symptom of regulatory fatigue that has set in as governments, wary of burdening banks with ever more stringent capital requirements, focus increasingly on economic growth.

Further discussions on the Basel package are expected to take place in Washington when global central bankers gather this week for the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting.