The European Banking Federation (EBF) published a letter dated November 21 to Michael Barnier, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, formally requesting a year long delay for the introduction of Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) to implement Basel III.

The delay has been requested on the grounds that EU banks would be competitively disadvantaged if the rules are introduced in the EU before the US requires compliance with equivalent rules (on 9 November 2012, the U.S. federal banking agencies announced an indefinite delay to the scheduled implementation date of 1 January 2013). The EBF is therefore calling on Mr. Barnier to set a new date of entry for the EU rules contained in CRD IV, in order to coordinate the approach across both the U.S. and EU.