|
|
With EU banks caught in the eye of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, on Tuesday Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs discussed the best design for the latest rules regulating bank capital requirements with industry representatives, academics, the Chair of the European banking watchdog, and the head of the recently founded counter-finance lobby group, Finance Watch.
The European Parliament has joint power with Member States to translate into EU law the Basel agreement, reached earlier this year, to raise global standards for the amounts of good quality capital that banks must set aside for rainy days, and to limit the amount of borrowed money (leverage) that banks use for their trading activities.
The meeting also discussed the potential benefits to the EU of developing variants to the rules agreed by the Basel Committee.
The draft report amending the Commission's proposals is expected to be presented by the Rapporteur, Othmar Karras (EPP, AT), late in January 2012, with a vote in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee expected for the end of April. After that, negotiations begin with the Member States, in the hope that a deal can be reached by the summer.