The new Basel III regulations for global banking, which were published in proposal form at the beginning of the year, were designed to make banking simpler, less risky and more transparent. Yet bankers warn that an unintended consequence of the regulation in its present form would be to punish one of the simplest and least risky corners of the industry: trade finance.

According to Standard Chartered Bank, the new regulations would lead to trade finance becoming 15% to 37% more expensive, with volumes reducing by 6% - which would also mean a $270bn a year reduction in global trade - and a 0.5% fall in global gross domestic product.