EU banks face 9.4 billion euro shortfall to meet capital rules

LONDON (Reuters) – Major banks in the European Union will have to collectively find 9.4 billion euros ($11.4 billion) by 2028 to plug a capital shortfall that will emerge under pending rules, the bloc’s banking watchdog said on Thursday.

Countries across the world are rolling out the final elements of Basel III, a tougher set of bank capital rules agreed by world leaders after taxpayers had to bail out lenders in the financial crisis over a decade ago.

“To comply with the new framework EU banks would need 9.4 billion euros of additional Tier 1 capital,” the European Banking Authority (EBA) said, referring to a lender’s core capital yardstick.

“These estimates are based on the assumption that Basel III requirements are implemented in full.”

The EBA, which assessed the capital implication of implementing the new rules on a sample of 106 banks in the EU, said Tier 1 minimum requirements would rise by an average 15.4%.