UK Postpones Basel Rules Due to US Delay

The UK’s banking regulator is reportedly postponing its package of global reforms to bank capital rules, after warning it would be “extremely mindful” of moving forward due to delays in the US.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is expected to delay the entire Basel Endgame, known as Basel 3.1 in the UK, package until at least January 2026, Bloomberg reports.

The rules were due to come into effect in the UK on 1 July 2025, but senior banking sources have suggested that the timeline might shift, especially since the US is not expected to finalize its version of the rules until after its November presidential election.

The decision to postpone was partly influenced by the announcement of the general election, which imposed a “quiet period” on regulators. This restriction prevented the regulator from publishing detailed measures in time to provide banks with a full year’s notice of the new rules.

The PRA also said it would publish its second and final set of near-final rules on 12 September.

The move follows comments from Sam Woods, deputy of the Bank of England and CEO of PRA, who said the watchdog was re-evaluating its timelines for implementing Basel rules due to the ongoing uncertainty in the US.

He said:  “Obviously in the US at the moment, the implementation date is unclear. At the point that we chose our current implementation date, 1 July 2025, it appeared the US would go at that time as well.”

The US had also planned to implement its version of Basel Endgame on 1 July 2025, but the rollout was postponed following criticisms from banks and trade associations such as the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Insitute, and National Bankers Association.

In response to the US delays, the European Union postponed a key component of the rules to ensure that the US delay does not disadvantage European banks.