Brazil: Central bank considers tighter capital rules

	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.