US banks' $5,000bn balance sheet burden on ice

Rulemakers in the US have decided to shelve accounting rule changes that would have seen banks forced to bring up to $5,000bn (£2.5bn) of debt assets onto the books.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board said that institutions will now not have to bring more of these holdings onto the balance sheet until January 2010, one year later than originally scheduled.

Concerns have been raised recently that the move would force banks to compensate for the extra liabilities by raising new capital in the middle of a tough economic climate.

Bob Herz, chairman of FASB told the FT: 'It does pain me to allow something that has been abused by certain folks to let that go on for another year.'