EU delays bank bond writedown till crisis abates

Davos: Michel Barnier, the European Union's financial services chief, said he'll wait until the region is "past the worst" of its fiscal crisis before unleashing proposals to write down creditors at failing banks.

"We have to get past the worst of this crisis to present this proposal at the right moment," the European Commissioner said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum. That may be in "some weeks, or rather some months."

Global regulators have called for rules imposing losses on bank creditors in a bid to prevent lenders being too big to fail. The Financial Stability Board said so-called bail-in systems should be put in place for all international banks.

Lenders including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have warned that write-downs for senior bondholders may make it more expensive for banks to attract funding.

"I want to avoid any misunderstanding," said Barnier about his plans designed to prevent taxpayers footing the bill for bailing out failing banks "in the medium to long term."

Barnier said that he's still making up his mind on plans by Deutsche Boerse AG and NYSE Euronext to create the world's largest exchange. He said he's been unable to give his full attention to the dossier because of an official trip last week to Asia.

The commission, the 27-nation EU's executive arm, will decide this week whether to back a proposal from the EU's antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, to block the deal.

"It's a very important decision," Barnier said. "I need a bit of personal time to work on this dossier and to make a judgement."

Barnier said that he's considering tougher EU rules for bank bonuses after criticising some payouts as "inexplicable."