Central bankers are to meet private financial firms in Switzerland at the weekend on how moves to bolster the strength of the banking system is faring, amid concerns that very low interest rates may re-ignite unwise lending, media reports said.

The meeting is to be held at the Bank of International Settlements in Basel. BIS is the institution that has developed bank capital adequacy rules, known in their latest incarnation as “Basel II”, that have been criticised for having not provided sufficiently robust protection to the system.

Group of 20 emerging and developed nations agreed last September to develop rules by the end of 2010 to require banks to hold more and better-quality capital and discourage leverage.

Representatives of banks including BlackRock, Citigroup and Wells Fargo will attend the session over the 9-10 January weekend, according to the Financial Times.

The newspaper said there are renewed worries that firms may be returning to the kind of risk-taking activity that existed before the credit crunch started two years ago.