No hard limit to Basel hike of capital rules: Dijsselbloem

[October 11, 2016]  LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - A reform of global banking rules should focus on lenders' internal models to assess risk and should not include hard limits to the increases of capital requirements that may be needed, the chair of euro zone finance ministers said on Tuesday.

Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem gestures during a European Union finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
 

"The outcome of the process should be that we have good quality standards for internal models and in the individual cases of some banks it may lead to higher capital requirements," Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters before an EU finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg.

The meeting will also discuss the reform of global banking rules carried out by the Basel committee, a regulator for 30 major world economies.

Asked whether there should be a hard limit to the increase of capital requirements, he said: "My approach is different".

France is pushing for a 5-percent limit in any capital requirements hike. "I haven't heard it. It does not make sense," Dijsselbloem said.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

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