Years after Lehman: final rules set on strengthening banks

A global forum of banking regulators has completed a set of rules aimed at keeping weak banks from needing taxpayer bailouts and hurting the economy.
The oversight board of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision agreed on the last batch of rules at a meeting in Frankfurt, Germany. They set limits on how far banks can diverge from regulatory requirements to keep financial buffers against losses.
Under the rules, the banks are limited in how far they can diverge from regulators' assessment of how risky their holdings are.
European Central Bank head Mario Draghi, who heads the Basel Committee's oversight board, said today that the step was "a major milestone that will make the capital framework more robust.