OpRisk Europe: Harmonised rules must preserve flexibility, panellists say

Speakers at OpRisk Europe conference call for balance between harmonisation and national freedom

Attempts to harmonise bank regulation need to be balanced with freedom for individual countries, according to panellists at the OpRisk Europe conference in London this morning. That is a hot topic within the European Union (EU), where the Basel III reforms have been split into two pieces of implementing legislation: a directive that will be transposed into local law by each member state, and a regulation that has the status of binding EU-wide law. Operational risk managers will be among those to