EU Crackdown on Bank Capital Reporting Sparks Nordic Protest

Scandinavia’s banks are contesting a plan by the European Banking Authority that requires lenders to adopt a uniform approach when calculating capital buffers, saying the reporting rule penalizes a region that performed better than most during the global financial crisis.

EBA Chairman Andrea Enria said last month there are no “rational justifications” behind the different methodologies now used as the London-based authority pursues a harmonized model. Yet bank groups in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, whose members include Nordea Bank AB, DNB ASA and Danske Bank A/S, say the EBA’s approach ignores earlier rules on how to measure reserves.