The US is committed to implementing new international agreements for banks. President of the Dutch central bank Nout Wellink announced the break through on Saturday in Washington after spring talks between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the meeting of international bankers that the US had agreed to conform to the rules laid down in the so-called Basel III framework which was endorsed in November 2010. The Basel Committee was set up to foster international cooperation on banking supervision, but there were still many gaps in the implementation of the agreement. “If the Americans don’t cooperate, many other people will ask the question why they should have to,” said Mr Wellink, who chairs the Basel Committee.
 
 “We have agreed to keep our heads and view it all in perspective,” continued Mr Wellink, “The introductory period of the new rules has been phased, which gives room for new resistance. But we will not allow this to deter us.” US commitment is crucial this time round, given that the Americans did not fully implement Basel II. “But Geithner has made it very clear that the situation is entirely different now. US Congress wants to go even further than Basel III on a number of points,” said Mr Wellink.
 
On the sidelines of the Bank-IMF meetings, the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies moved to take on "imbalances" like European debt, Washington's multiple deficits, and China's huge trade surplus. The G20 countries, whose finance chiefs held talks ahead of the bank meetings, have pledged to make progress in their banking practices.
 
The president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellink, also warned that the global economy was “one shock away from a full-blown crisis” and that worsening conditions in the Middle East and Africa “could derail global growth.”
 

(jn/nc)

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