Brussels, 10/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 12 September, the Basel Committee will publish new rules on the level and quality of bank capital requirements. Although supporting the aim of strengthening banking, the European Savings Bank Group (ESBG) has issued an “urgent last call” to the world's regulators and central banks to get them to look at building societies differently when calculating capital requirements. In a press release, ESBG president Carl Eric Stålberg explained that “the new rules, as they are currently expected, will punish some of the most resilient banking structures such as savings and regionally oriented banks by a disproportionate increase in capital requirements... There is indeed a real danger that these stable and reliable banks will be obliged to significantly reduce lending to the real economy, or risk being put out of business”. (M.B./transl.fl)