Banking officials will meet in Switzerland Tuesday and Wednesday to consider if they must change capital charges on the world’s largest banks due to concerns that these costs could hurt financial services, Bloomberg has reported, citing two unnamed sources.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision confirmed to WealthBriefing that it is meeting on 27 and 28 September, but did not elaborate on the nature of the agenda.

The newservice said the group will consider criticisms from banks such as Paris-listed BNP Paribas – also the eurozone’s biggest wealth manager – about capital surcharges.

Another agenda item, the report said, is the level of reserves banks must hold to cope with a potential default by a derivatives clearinghouse.

The issue of capital charges on banks and other financial institutions is a complex but critical issue that has gained added urgency with the latest financial turmoil connected to the risk of a Greek sovereign debt default. For example, BNP Paribas, which has seen its shares fall this year, issued a statement late last week insisting it was in strong financial shape and was able to meet its dollar and euro funding requirements.

Basel bank rules have sometimes been attacked for aggravating the very financial problems they are supposed to help ameliorate. For example, under the old, Basel II standards, banks were forced, critics said, to increase their capital ratios precisely when markets were weak, forcing them to sell assets and hence add to declining market levels.

At the same time, capital adequacy rules have also, it is argued, helped encourage the kind of “off-balance” sheet, or “shadow banking system” whereby banks securitise loans and bonds to reduce capital requirements.