It was only after Basel II had been implemented in Europe for banks and savings banks across the board, irrespective of their size and business activity, that subsequent international negotiations and reforms began to turn their attention to the smaller institutions. It is therefore up to us in Europe to reconcile global competition with fitting rules for institutions operating regionally.
In a globalised world, we need a uniform set of rules to ensure fair competition among those banks operating globally – only in this way can a reckless regulatory race to the bottom be prevented. For banks conducting the same business activities and bearing the same risks, this means that they should be subject to the same rules.