Global Pact Will Hit Some Banks-Greenspan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators may tweak capital rules to alleviate potential harm to small domestic banks from a new global pact on banking, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Friday. U.S. banks have until January 2008 to prepare for rules the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision, a global group of bank regulators, agreed to last June. Greenspan said the U.S. central bank, which also serves as a bank regulator, has been studying the pact's implications and that some new research will be released in coming weeks. "For some business lines, the studies have suggested that competitive impacts are not likely, while for others, such as some types of small business loans, it does appear that unintended competitive advantages and disadvantages might be created," the Fed chief said via satellite to the Independent Community Bankers of America national convention in San Antonio, Texas. "Where concerns appear valid, we and the other federal banking agencies will this summer propose some options for simple revisions to the current capital rules that would mitigate any unintended and undesired competitive distortions engendered by the new accord," he added. Greenspan added that if the Basel accord were to affect U.S. banking in unforeseen ways, "the Federal Reserve would make appropriate further adjustments to the rules." Greenspan did not address the current economy or interest rates in his speech. The Fed chairman, who has often said he does not believe the hedge fund industry needs more regulation, said bank-style rules do not appear necessary for nonbank financial institutions. "It is clear from leverage ratios and other indicia of their funding process that the market monitors and disciplines nonbank entities far more intensively than banks," he said. Greenspan nodded to bankers' concerns about the enforcement of Bank Secrecy Act regulations, designed to tackle money laundering, terrorism funding and other financial crime. He said bankers and regulators want the system to work without excessive regulatory burden and the Fed is working with the Treasury and Justice departments "to support a fair, effective, and consistent approach to Bank Secrecy Act compliance." Turning to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Greenspan said more efficient and accurate risk assessment, lenders' appetite for new business and data collections under HMDA -- an act designed to help prevent lending discrimination -- had led to credit availability to a larger number of borrowers. "Banks are now making many more such loans to higher-risk borrowers, and they justifiably seek compensation for the higher risk through higher interest rates," he said. He said this trend is consistent with expanded credit access and that more price data collection will allow regulators to assess if lending rates are fair. Quelle "Global Pact Will Hit Some Banks-Greenspan" : reuters.com Main page for "Global Pact Will Hit Some Banks-Greenspan"