Shares in British banks were mixed on the FTSE 100 in morning trading ahead of the publication of new rules for European banking at Basel III.

This weekend the rules on banking capital will be announced from the Swiss city. It is expected that the talks will result in banks being required to have a seven per cent core Tier 1 ratio in the market.

Part nationalised banks Lloyds Banking Group and RBS performed better in early trading.

By 10:55 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were up 1.34 per cent to 75.67 pence per share, RBS shares increased 1.74 per cent to 48.99 pence per share and HSBC shares rose 0.36 per cent to 664.00 pence per share.

Shares in Barclays however declined 0.74 per cent to 320.95 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was down 0.02 per cent to 5,492.90, after briefly passing the 5,500 mark.

Barclays HSBC FTSE