BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers reached an agreement on Friday on reforming bank capital rules, a major step towards boosting the bloc’s financial stability and a stepping stone towards a deal on a backstop for its bank-rescue fund in June. An agreement on the banking reform would come after 18 months of heated debates among the 28 EU governments on how to apply new global bank capital rules that overhauled financial regulations after the 2007-2009 global crisis. European finance ministers discussed how to strengthen the EU oversight at an informal meeting in April and are likely to address the topic again in regular monthly meetings later on Thursday and on Friday, as part of discussions on banking rules reform, three EU officials told Reuters. The two measures are seen as interlinked because the banking capital rules are expected to reduce bank risk, a move that would in turn allow more sharing of risk among euro zone countries in the form of a common backstop to prop up the sector’s rescue facility, known as Single Resolution Fund.
EU finance ministers reach an agreement on reforming bank capital rules.