Central bank governors and regulators have agreed to new rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the recent financial crisis.

A deal has been agreed which requires banks to hold greater amounts of capital in reserve. This should mean that banks have a greater ability to absorb losses in future crises and won't have to rely on government bail-outs.

"The new rules are a major tightening of global capital standards and will play a major role in creating a more resilient global banking system," said Lord Turner, chairman of the UK's Financial Services Authority.

However, the agreement is not due to come into effect from 2013 and still needs to be ratified by the heads of government of the G20 group of nations at November's summit.

The amount of common equity that banks have to hold will rise from 2% of their loans and investments to 7%. The new requirement should prove little problem for UK banks, as it is comfotably lower than the 8-9% ratio currently held by them.