Alongside America’s highways, billboards jostle for drivers’ attention. But in some roadside locations the usual adverts for churches, auto dealers and drive-through burger joints have been joined by publicity for a more unusual topic: bank capital rules.

Since late July, when US banking regulators unveiled plans that they say will make banks safer, the issue has been forced into the mainstream like never before. Passengers at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport are greeted by another billboard. Adverts opposing the rules are popping up in podcasts and television shows. There was even talk of a slot at this year’s Super Bowl.

They warn of dire consequences for “everyday Americans” if the authorities push ahead with reforms that are officially known as “the finalisation of Basel III” but have been apocalyptically termed “the Basel Endgame” in the US. Both monikers refer to the Swiss city in which the committee that formulates the rules meets.