By Jonathan Stempel and Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said U.S. authorities need to be careful when implementing new capital requirements of the Basel III accord to avoid reducing the ability of U.S. banks to compete globally.

In an interview with Fox News, Moynihan said the process needs to assure "the playing field is level", saying the rules should be implemented carefully "so to not make the US less competitive".

"We're not talking about the big eight banks.... We're talking about a $30 or $40 billion bank, or a $100 billion bank, not being able to compete for a middle market loan because a bank or a supplier in Europe ... is getting a lower cost of capital", Moynihan added.

Asked about the deal between Pacwest Bancorp and Banc of California and the sale of a $2 billion mortgage portfolio to JPMorgan Chase , Moynihan said JPMorgan helped the deal to come through, which is 'terrific'.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by David Goodman and Chizu Nomiyama)