Banking regulator delays tighter capital rules

Chinese regulators have further delayed the deadline for the nation’s banks to meet certain capital adequacy ratios, a move intended to ensure lending support to a slowing economy, Bloomberg reported. The government has not given a new deadline for when banks will have to comply with the new standards, under which the biggest banks would be required to maintain a capacity-adequacy ratio of 11.5% and smaller banks 10.5%. Regulators aim to set “reasonable” schedules for banks to meet capital targets in a way that helps “maintain appropriate credit growth,” the government said on its website yesterday. China’s banking regulator had said last August that the new rules would go into effect on January 1 of this year. Chinese banks will have three years to meet the new standards, 21st Century Business Herald reported, quoting an unidentified person familiar with the matter.