Germany and France seek relaxation of bank capital rules: FT

London: France and Germany will call on Monday for a relaxation of global bank capital rules to prevent lending to the real economy being choked off, the Financial Times reported on Monday. German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble and his French counterpart Francois Baroin will urge special treatment for banks that own insurance companies, according to a joint paper seen by the newspaper. The pair will also urge important elements of the Basel III guidelines on capital requirements to be watered down to mitigate any “negative effect” on growth, according to the article. [caption id=“attachment_190572” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The two countries are expected to call for a relaxation of global bank capital rules,  on Monday.  “] [/caption] The FT said the paper calls for a three-year delay to the mandatory deadline to disclose leverage ratios, a measure of bank borrowing and risk. Banks across the world will have to follow Basel III accords for disclosing the size and quality of their capital safety buffers from 2013 to help reassure investors they are stable. Reuters