Global bank regulators are preparing to ease new rules that would require banks to hold more liquid assets to withstand a funding crunch in a crisis.
The move follows complaints from banks that the new Basel III standards on liquidity – the first international rules of their kind – would force them to sharply curtail lending to consumers and businesses.
The new measure, known as the “liquidity coverage ratio”, will require banks to hold enough easy-to-sell assets to withstand a 30-day run on their funding, similar to the crisis that engulfed Lehman Brothers in 2008. While the ratio does not formally take effect until 2015, banks were already struggling to amass enough cash and government bonds to meet the requirements, said analysts.