ECB's Weidmann calls for earlier introduction of bail-in rules

(Reuters) - Rules ensuring that banks' bondholders and big depositors share the costs of any lender failing should be introduced earlier than currently planned, European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann said on Tuesday.

Weidmann, also president of Germany's Bundesbank, joins a long list of ECB and German government officials pushing for the early introduction of 'bail-in' rules, in January 2015 instead of 2018.

The bail-in rules should if possible be in place by the time the planned mechanism to wind down banks starts, he said. That is currently expected in 2015, shortly after the ECB takes up its new role as the single supervisor for euro zone banks.

"It is important that bail-in be implemented as simultaneously to other measures as possible. In particular, the bail-in transition periods should be shortened," Weidmann said in a speech in Frankfurt.

He said banks should be allowed to fail, but added: "Different to how things were done in the past, it should be done if possible without putting financial stability at risk and without using public money."

(Reporting by Eva Taylor; Editing by Hugh Lawson)