Euro zone banks should get exceptions from global banking rules - ECB's Nouy

LINZ, Austria (Reuters) - Euro zone banks should be granted exceptions from global banking rules when it comes to mortgages and lending to companies, particularly small to medium enterprises (SMEs), the European Central Bank's chief banking supervisor said on Friday.

"I would support being much more compliant with the Basel rules and even totally compliant except for ... mortgages, because they're not on the balance sheet of the U.S. banks so we have specificities in Europe that could be taken into account, and definitely SMEs because SMEs and corporates in general are much more funded by the banks," Daniele Nouy told a conference in Austria.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; editing by David Evans)