In response to global uncertainty the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has further delayed the implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards in the UK to 1 January 2027. This delay comes just four months after the PRA announced a six-month delay to 1 January 2026 in the PRA’s near-final policy statement PS9/24 in September 2024.
A PRA press release published today (17 January 2025) attributed the delay to “uncertainty around the implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards in the US” and “competitiveness and growth considerations.” The delay will mean that the Basel 3.1 standards in the UK will be in force two years after the EU, which implemented its amended CRR on 1 January 2025.
It is unclear how significant the delayed implementation will be on the draft UK CRR, published as part of the PRA’s near-final policy statement PS9/24 in September 2024, or whether there will be positive news for trade finance during the extended monitoring period. What does appear clear is that the UK’s full implementation date for the Basel 3.1 standards remains 1 January 2030, therefore reducing the transitional period to a maximum of three years.
