LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Concise insights on global finance in the Covid-19 era. ------------------------------------------------- SINGAPORE-ON-SEINE. Brexit-supporting City figures hoping for a regulatory bonfire seem likely to be disappointed. The Bank of England on Friday released a consultation paper laying out its approach to lenders’ regulatory capital now that Britain has left the European Union. It proposed closing an EU loophole whereby banks can add the value of certain intangible software assets to their common equity Tier 1 capital ratios. It’s a sensible move. There’s no evidence that such assets help to absorb losses in a crisis, which is the point of bank capital. And the cost is manageable: the CET1 ratio of Virgin Money, one of the more exposed banks, will be about 30 basis points lower as a result, KBW analysts estimated. The broader lesson is that the BoE’s first deviation from EU law was to make the rules tighter, not looser. The supervisor also recently ruled out a big capital reduction for insurers. London may end up being smaller, but at least it will be safer. (By Liam Proud)