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Henrique Meirelles: about to get tougher |
The Brazilian central bank is considering obliging banks with fast-growing loan portfolios to increase their capital requirements. Brazilian banks already have some of the toughest capital requirements of any sizeable economy (at 11% compared with the international standard of 8%). Until the sub-prime crisis, some analysts were critical of this, believing it hindered the growth of the credit markets and put a brake on the economy. But in the wake of the financial crisis, experts now laud the Brazilian model for having been so prudent.
Furthermore, the central bank under its president, Henrique Meirelles, may become even tougher to ensure that fast growth in a bank’s loan portfolio "does not...
