BoE's Breeden calls for international debate on bank capital buffers

LONDON (Reuters) -Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said on Wednesday that international finance regulators should have a debate over the best usage of banks' capital buffers based on the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"One of the things that we learned through that was that some of our buffers are more usable than others," Breeden said at a press conference following the publication of the BoE's twice-yearly Financial Stability Report.

"And I think trying to start a debate about the appropriateness of the various buffers we have internationally would be a really good thing to come out of this review," she added, referring to a BoE review of capital requirements due to be published in December.

(Reporting by David Milliken and Lawrence White, writing by Andy BruceEditing by William Schomberg)