Deutsche Bank minimum capital requirements increased by European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) has forced Deutsche Bank to up its capital holdings for 2018 slightly above the average for European lenders.
Deutsche Bank must now maintain a common equity tier one (CET1) ratio of 10.65 per cent during 2018, up from the 9.52 per cent requirement in 2017, it announced today on its website.
The German lender already had a CET1 capital ratio of 14.58 per cent at the end of September, meaning it will not have to raise more money unless it wishes to maintain the same level of breathing space from the ECB's minimum.
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The ECB's decision came as part of its annual supervisory review and evaluation process, in which the central bank judges how well individual banks are dealing with risks.
All banks must hold at least 4.5 per cent of their risk-adjusted assets as common equity under the Basel III banking regulations, but more systemically important banks can be forced to hold more by regulators if their collapse would risk triggering a financial crisis.
The upwards move in Deutsche's requirements reflects the implementation of the capital conservation buffer and as well as a separate buffer for global systemically important banks, the bank said.
The ECB website indicates overall capital requirements will be "broadly stable from 2017 to 2018", but the upwards move for Deutsche Bank will push its requirements slightly above the average for European banks at around 10 per cent of total risk-weighted assets.
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