If different banking rules were introduced in countries inside and outside the eurozone, it must be done in an integrated way to avoid distorting competition, the European Union’s banking watchdog said yesterday.

EU president Donald Tusk has proposed a package of measures to persuade Britons to vote in favour of staying in the EU when a UK referendum is held, most likely in June.

The proposals, if approved by EU leaders at a summit later this month, would allow countries like Britain that are outside the single currency to have bank capital rules that are different from those implemented inside the eurozone. This has raised the prospect of fragmenting the so-called EU single rulebook aimed at ensuring a level playing field for all banks across the 28-country bloc’s capital market.

“If a multilayered single rulebook is to be introduced to achieve this practice, then it has to be managed in an integrated fashion, to avoid that regulatory differences generate barriers and uneven competitive conditions in the cross-border businessbetween ‘ins’ and ‘outs,” the European Banking Authority chairman Andrea Enria said.

“The EBA stands ready to contribute to this delicate process,” Enria told an event in London to mark the watchdog’s fifth anniversary.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.