Italy Bank Lobby Chief Mussari Is Seeking Basel Review to Reflect Assets

Italy’s banks are seeking a review of rules being drafted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to better reflect lenders’ assets.

“What we’ve asked for after the recent changes is to give value to the specificity of Italian lenders’ assets,” Giuseppe Mussari, chairman of the Italian banking association, Abi, said at a conference in Rimini, Italy yesterday.

The Basel Committee, which represents central banks and regulators in 27 nations and sets capital standards for banks worldwide, was asked by leaders of the Group of 20 countries to draft rules after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The committee is planning to present a final package of changes to the G-20 meeting in Seoul in November.

The new rules, known as Basel III, risk complicating the economic recovery, said Mussari, who is also chairman of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Italy’s third-biggest bank.

The Basel Committee on Aug. 18 rebuffed complaints from banks that proposed regulations would damage economic growth, saying the impact would be “modest.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Elisa Martinuzzi in Milan at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net; Sonia Sirletti in Milan at sirletti@bloomberg.net

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email