The head of Italy's central bank says Europe could delay implementing the Basel III banking stability rules until January 2014.
Reuters reports that Bank of Italy Director General Fabrizio Saccomanni told a Rome business meeting the European Union was "going towards a postponement of Basel III to the end of 2013, January 2014 at the latest".
Reuters also quoted an Austrian regulator saying there were "good chances" that the rules could be implemented on 1 July 2013.
The US has already said it will not implement Basel III on 1 January next year as scheduled, and Europe's possible delay has been growing by the week.
New Zealand and Canada this week joined Australia in putting in place final rules for a 1 January 2013 implementation.