Bank creditors of the same status may not be treated equally in a crisis, should the latest thinking on the global rules around bail-ins apply to any domestic episode of banking stress.Global banking supervisors (or APRA in any Australian financial crisis) will have "flexibility to depart from the general principle of equal treatment of creditors of the same class," the Financial Stability Board explained last night, in a guidance document intended "to assist authorities in implementing ... resolution regimes for global systemically important banks," or G-SIBs.The differential treatment of creditors of the same class is catered for, in this FSB guidance, "if necessary to contain the potential systemic impact of a firm's failure, or to maximise the value for the benefit of all creditors as a whole."None of Australia's four major banks has, so far, made the grade as a G-SIB, though the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority may be mindful of global practice, should it resort to its own, recently extended powers, to supervise any exit of a bank or insurer from the local industry.In March this year, the Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Crisis Resolution Powers and Other Measures) Act 2017 became law, the act informed in part by reforms advocated by the Financial System Inquiry.Wayne Byres, APRA chair, has made limited public comments on the Australian version of "bail-in" measures, but did set out to narrow their scope at a hearing of  a parliamentary committee in March."Concerns have been expressed in some quarters that the Bill might allow APRA to confiscate or otherwise use depositors' money to save a failing bank," Byres told the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics at the time. "I would therefore like to use this opportunity to state clearly that that is most definitely not the case. There is no such power in the Act. "APRA's purpose under the Banking Act is to protect depositors, and the idea of 'bailing in' deposits would be anathema to that core purpose."