KPMG wants EU bank reforms shelved

London - Audit firm KPMG has written to Europe's largest lenders saying a European Commission plan to separate banks' consumer and investment-banking arms should be shelved, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

In an emailed statement KPMG said the proposal would not add significant value alongside other regulatory reforms, while countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany pursue their own requirements on separating trading and deposit-taking business, Bloomberg reported.

EU financial services commissioner Michel Barnier published proposals in January to ban speculative trading at banks and in some cases force lenders to wall off other types of trading to keep depositors safe and taxpayers off the hook if a trade goes wrong.

"A balance must be struck between a perfectly stable, albeit lacklustre market, with one that creates the right conditions to sustain economic growth and job creation," Giles Williams, head of KPMG's financial regulation practice, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Representatives of KPMG could not immediately be reached outside regular working hours in the United Kingdom.