Banks Face Tripling of Capital Levels as EU Moves on Basel III
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Banks face demands from the European Union to more than triple the minimum levels of core capital they must hold to stave off insolvency under proposals that some lenders complain will hamper the region’s economic recovery.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s financial-services chief, will propose tomorrow a law to implement global rules approved by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision aimed at bolstering banks resilience to shocks. Lenders will need to raise about 423 billion euros ($595.5 billion) by 2019 to comply with the EU’s version of the Basel III rules, according to a draft of the EU proposals obtained by Bloomberg News.