The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published the final report on the implementation of the capital exercise it launched more than a year ago with the aim of strengthening the large European banks’ capital positions. The 71 banking groups participating in the exercise increased their capital base by a total of more than EUR 200 billion in 2012. The 27 banks that originally did not meet the substantially higher requirements of a core tier 1 capital ratio of 9% raised their capital buffers by a total of EUR 116 billion. The two participating Austrian banking groups – Erste Group Bank AG and Raiffeisen Zentralbank AG – have more than fulfilled the new requirements.
“The EBA exercise to strengthen the capital base of the large cross-border European banking groups, which was launched as part of a set of measures to tackle the sovereign debt crisis, has established new standards for the quantity and quality of banks’ capital. It has been a crucial contribution to restoring and strengthening confidence in the European financial markets,” Executive Board Member of the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), Helmut Ettl, underlined. Moreover, FMA Executive Board Member Kurt Pribil emphasized, “European supervisors have agreed that in future, banks’ capital must not fall under the levels that have now been reached. To ensure that this goal is accomplished, supervisors reserve the right to prohibit the payment of dividends or flexible wage components.”
European supervisors will now monitor the smooth and timely transition from the new EBA standards to the Basel III regulatory framework for banks.
As OeNB Executive Director Andreas Ittner added, “The Austrian banks have proved that they are able to raise their capital buffers considerably within a short period of time without tightening credit supply. This confirms my expectation that the Austrian banking sector will also succeed in improving its capital position as will be necessary with a view to Basel III.
The detailed results of the capital exercise for the participating Austrian banks are available at www.oenb.at.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0)676/882 49 516
Christian Gutlederer (OeNB)
+43/(0)1/404 20-6609
+43/(0)664/515 36 18