Smaller banks take heat from regulatory glare on global lenders

Singapore

SMALLER regional banks have been caught in the crossfire between global lenders and regulators, as big lenders retract basic services to manage cost and compliance obligations, said panellists at the Sibos 2015 conference on Tuesday. And one worry is that this could hurt small and medium enterprises expanding beyond their home markets.

These emerged after two top regulatory officials separately discussed the "unintended" consequences of banks peeling off risks by ignoring legitimate businesses altogether, forcing them to less regulated channels.