The biggest eurozone banks have come under renewed pressure to raise extra capital after the European Central Bank set new individual targets and Spain’s Santander responded by selling €7.5bn of shares last week.
The ECB, which took over regulation of the eurozone’s 130 biggest banks from national supervisors in November, has given lenders until the end of this week to appeal against the capital ratios it believes they need. The banks have been informed over the past month of updated ratio targets, which reflect mounting regulatory pressure for them to strengthen capital levels.
Even after authorities carried out stress tests on the biggest European lenders in October, sceptics think many still have too much debt and too little equity on their balance sheets. Analysts at Berenberg forecast that banks in the single currency zone had a capital shortfall of about €230bn.