Squeezing more into tier one

It must be perpetual but it doesn't have to be for ever. It has to feel like equity but look - to tax authorities - like debt. Defining banks' core capital is one of the thorniest issues facing bank regulators. Antony Currie reports on the squabbles over what fits in the tier-one category.

It’s hardly been the best year for banks to raise capital. The fallout from last year’s Asian crisis scared off investors concerned that the banks might have overly high exposure to some of the affected markets, and so drove out spreads and hit share prices. Then, just as confidence was beginning to return, the Russian crisis hit, and deals either had to be restructured – Fortis, for example, switched from a straight secondary equity issue to a convertible bond to aid in its acquisition of Belgium’s Generale Bank – or deals were pulled entirely, the most high-profile one being the cancellation of the Goldman Sachs flotation.

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