Banks get years to adjust to new global rules

[September 13, 2010]  BASEL, Switzerland (AP) -- Bankers and analysts said new global rules could mean less money available to lend to businesses and consumers, but praised a decision to give them plenty of time -- until 2019 -- before the so-called Basel III requirements come into full force.

The rules, which will gradually require banks to hold greater capital buffers to absorb potential losses, are likely to affect the credit industry by imposing stricter discipline on credit cards, mortgages and other loans.

Requiring banks to keep more capital on hand will restrict the amount of loans they can make, but it will make them better able to withstand the blow if many of those loans go sour.

European Central Bank Chairman Jean-Claude Trichet said the leading central bankers who worked on the agreement, reached Sunday in Basel, were convinced that the new measures were a "fundamental strengthening of global capital standards" which would make a "substantial" contribution to economic stability and growth.

Trichet declined to estimate how much money banks would need to raise to meet the new requirements.

He also said he had "full confidence" that the measures would be implemented by U.S. authorities, despite their not fully having adopted the last round of Basel rules.

In some countries, where national regulators were quick to clamp down on risky lending practices following the credit crunch, the new rules, agreed Sunday in Basel by top central bankers and regulators, may actually release some pent up capital banks had been holding back in anticipate of far tighter regulation, said analysts.

Under the new rules, known as Basel III, the mandatory reserve -- known as Tier 1 capital -- would rise from 4 percent to 4.5 percent by 2013 and reach 6 percent in 2019.

In addition, banks would be required to keep an emergency reserve known as a "conservation buffer" of 2.5 percent.

In total, the amount of rock-solid reserves each bank is expected to have will be 8.5 percent of its balance sheet -- but not until the end of the decade.

"Banks in Europe that have been weighed down by problems get a little more time to adjust to the rules," Nordea bank chief economist Annika Winsth said Monday. "It is positive that they are given an opportunity to handle this."

Relief at the generous time frame and lower-than-expected minimum reserves lifted banking stocks across the board Monday.

France's banking federation said French banks were "among those with the greatest capacity to adapt to the new rules."

In a statement, the federation noted however that it remained concerned that the new rules would put "a strong constraint that will inevitably weigh on the financing of the economy, especially the volume and cost of credit."

Down the line consumers could see banks tighten their rules on loans and possibly impose higher banking charges as financial institutions spend the next few years building reserves to meet the new regulatory requirements.

But Teresa Nielsen, an analyst at private bank Vontobel in Zurich, said consumers could also benefit. "The lower than feared minimum capital requirement and longer implementation time frame could potentially lead to banks being more open to give loans to companies and private people which again could improve the economic situation worldwide," Nielsen said.

Deutsche Bank's Chief Executive, Josef Ackermann, said he thought the Basel III package was a good one.

"I think the decisions that were taken are the right decisions, they go in the right direction, and I also believe the fact that they gave the banking industry so much time for implementation clearly reduces the effects on the real economy, which is also very positive," he said.

"So it's a well rounded good package that we fully support."

Some major banks, particularly Switzerland's two biggest UBS and Credit Suisse, will likely face additional requirements because of the threat their collapse would pose to the national economy, Nielsen said.

U.S. officials including Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke issued a joint statement Sunday calling the new standards a "significant step forward in reducing the incidence and severity of future financial crises."

The rules still must be presented to leaders of the Group of 20 forum of rich and developing countries at a meeting in November and ratified by national governments before they comes into force.

The Basel III agreement is seen as a cornerstone of the global financial reforms proposed by governments stung by the experience of having to bail out some ailing banks to avoid wider economic collapse.

[Associated Press; By GREG KELLER AND FRANK JORDANS]

Jordans contributed from Geneva. Associated Press writers Andrew Vanacore in New York, Martin Crutsinger in Washington and David Rising in Berlin also contributed to this report.

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