17 January 2025 , 19:20
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The U.K. delayed its implementation of global banking rules by one year due to uncertainty over what U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will do.
The EU has hit back after Britain’s banking watchdog issued a surprise delay to global rules over fears incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will cull them.
An EU official told POLITICO the bloc is “surprised and disappointed” by the Bank of England’s announcement Friday that it would further delay plans to bring in its version of global bank capital reforms because of uncertainty over whether Trump will delay or roll back the rules in the U.S.
The official said the BoE’s move to delay the reforms, known as Basel III, by one year until Jan. 1, 2027, is “not in line with what the UK authorities have said over the last ten years on the importance to have high standards for market participants, agreed at international level.”
The U.K. has previously called the EU “an international outlier” for deviating from the globally agreed standards too much.
Brussels implemented its version of Basel III, the last piece of a major reform agenda dating back to the global financial crisis, on January 1 this year. But it has already delayed one part of the rules, which affects the international operations of big lenders, until 2026, which could be further postponed in response to the move from London.
The EU official said the U.K.’s move creates “clear level playing field issues” that the bloc “will need to consider carefully.”
“Implementing standards only when the last jurisdiction has implemented them is not the way to preserve financial stability in international markets, in particular for large financial centres,” the EU official said.
The European Commission has noted the delay and said it is committed to implementing the bank standards on time.