Bank of England delays rules designed to avoid banking crash by a year | Bank of England

The Bank of England has delayed the introduction of tougher global banking capital rules by a further year to prevent another 2008-style crash, blaming the second delay on a lack of clarity about its implementation in the US.

The Bank’s regulator, which made the decision after consultation with the Treasury, also said it was taking into account “competitive and growth considerations”.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, summoned the chief executives of watchdogs on Thursday, including the Competition and Markets Authority, water regulator Ofwat and the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to a meeting in Downing Street to pressure them to do more to support growth.

The PRA, which supervises banks and insurers, said implementation of Basel 3.1, the final set of banking reforms designed to avert another global financial crisis, would be delayed by one year to 1 January 2027. They had already been delayed last September by six months, to January 2026.

“Given the current uncertainty around the timing of implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards in the US, and taking into account competitiveness and growth considerations, the PRA, having consulted with HM Treasury, has decided to further delay implementation of the rules,” it said.

The PRA said while it expected the implementation date to be in 2027 it would continue to monitor developments.

The standards have had pushback from banks in the US – where Donald Trump is preparing to return to power next week – which have argued that they would be too onerous.

Reeves’s meeting came shortly after official figures showed the UK economy grew just 0.1% in November, weaker than expected but easing some pressure on the chancellor after it contracted in the previous month. Separate figures, released on Friday, showed retail sales volumes slumped 0.3% in December.