US banks pushing back against tougher capital rules have found an ally in the renewable power industry, as project developers warn that a proposal to guard against a financial crisis risks slowing down the clean-energy transition.
The so-called Basel III endgame proposal, being drawn up by the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators, aims to make the system safer by increasing the amount of capital that lenders have to hold on their balance sheets.
The biggest US banks — including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America — have criticised the measure, arguing that higher capital requirements would increase borrowing costs and push lending outside the regulated banking sector.