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3/5/13

EU Also Nears Deal on Basel Rules After Clashes on Bonuses - by Jim Brunsden & Rebecca Christie

European Union finance ministers neared an accord on a wide-ranging plan to strengthen bank capital requirements as they wrangled with U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne over proposed curbs to bankers’ bonuses.

“I can’t support the proposal currently on the table, but I hope if we make progress over the next couple of weeks that we have a proposal I can support,” Osborne said in Brussels. Other nations backed the deal, with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble endorsing a last search for common ground.

Ireland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, pledged to iron out the last elements of the agreement in coming weeks. EU nations will seek technical adjustments to the timing for adopting all the new rules, as well as on how big a slice of banker bonuses can be eligible for a combination of deferred payment and favorable accounting treatment.

European Parliament members won’t agree to go beyond last week’s hard-fought compromise, said Othmar Karas, the lead lawmaker on the capital rules, and European Parliament President Martin Schulz. Both lawmakers said the measure would go before the legislature for a vote in April based on the existing framework.

Note EU-Digest: the EU parliament must make sure that the financial community receives no escape clauses in the bonus deal by watering down the agreement. 

Read more: EU Nears Deal on Basel Rules After Clashes on Bonuses - Bloomberg

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