ESBG: SME lending to be hindered by Capital Requirements Directive review

05 October 2011

The European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) fears that the implementation of the Basel III regulatory framework via review of the Capital Requirements Directive review will dramatically hinder retail bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Basel III does not account for the specificities and diversity of the European banking sector. It was developed for large, internationally-active banks, while its transposition will apply to all EU credit institutions: large and small, international and regional, retail and universal banking models with different ownership and organisational structures.

Chris De Noose, ESBG Managing Director said: “In general, ESBG supports Basel III and its goal to increase the stability and resiliency of the banking sector worldwide, and therefore calls for its global implementation. However, policymakers should make sure that regulation stabilises the banking environment without constraining economically valuable and necessary retail banking activities at the local and regional level. Such constraints would be to the detriment of both financial stability and economic prosperity.”

Press release

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