U.S. regulators on Friday agreed to delay indefinitely the effective date of a global agreement on greater bank capital buffers known as Basel III. The Federal Reserve and two other bank regulators introduced a proposal in June to implement the global agreement that suggested an effective date for institutions to comply of Jan. 1. However, the regulators agreed that "due to the wide range of views" expressed by interested institutions and others that a delay was necessary. They did not provide a substitute effective date for the rules, arguing that they are "working as expeditiously as possible to complete" them. The agreement is being implemented in response to the financial crisis of 2008. Other international agencies have delayed implementation of bank rules.

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