Nothing pays back quite as much as a heavy dose of lobbying and good friends inside world governments. Will they be as powerful after the next round of banker layoffs begins? Probably. Even after causing the global recession and in their weakened state, they remain as powerful as ever.
Giant banks, while bracing for a wave of tougher regulation in Washington, will not have to face a new set of global rules on capital and liquidity anytime soon.
The world’s biggest economies have been developing rules that would require banks to hold more capital and be better equipped to absorb losses when financial conditions sour. But it became clear on Sunday at the meeting of the Group of 20 countries that it could be years before they take effect.
The rules are to be finished at the next G-20 leaders’ summit talks, in Seoul, South Korea, in November.
While the participants here said they aimed to adopt the rules by the end of 2012, they cautioned that the standards would be “phased in over a time frame that is consistent with sustained recovery and limits market disruption.”
