French banks will not have to set aside any extra funds under European Union countercyclical capital buffer (CCB) requirements that take effect in France in 2016, the French Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The statement said Finance Minister Michel Sapin, also president of the country's Council for Financial Stability, had signed a document setting the capital buffer requirement ratio at zero percent after consultation with the relevant European authorities.

"The council at this stage does not see in the French banking system any of the excessive credit growth that could be a source of systemic risk," the statement said. The CCB, an extra regulatory requirement on top of others for lenders to set capital aside, is reviewed on a quarterly basis. It is already in place in a number of other countries, including Britain, Norway and Sweden, as part of protection against risks from future banking crises put in place after the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

Copyright Reuters, 2016