UK banks could be about to gain a competitive edge in the post-Brexit era thanks to new European rules designed to limit leveraged lending.

The European regulations, introduced late last year, are effectively a clampdown on leveraged loans that the European Central Bank deems ‘excessive’. The regulations themselves are very similar to rules introduced in the US back in 2013. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have moved to reduce systemic risk and coax lenders into upholding credit standards by limiting loans seen as too risky.