North-South divide: Basel makes Nordic and Dutch banks bristle

Lobbyists confident EU policymakers can be persuaded to implement softer credit risk rules

The BIS, home to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision

Photo: Ulrich Roth

In a report to G20 finance ministers in July 2017, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision emphasised the importance of global prudential rules that established a level playing field for internationally active banks. The phrase was nowhere to be found in the final Basel III rules announced on December 7.

European banks have certainly not forgotten the commitment, which goes hand-in-hand with the principles of a single internal market in the European Union. Within Europe, Nordic banks bear