But the headline numbers are lower than the EBA’s. Basel III rules say banks must have a 7 percent core tier one ratio by 2019, with a top-up of up to 2.5 percentage points for the biggest global banks.
Mr. Enria’s comments are likely to revive tensions with Europe’s banks and some national policy makers, who had resisted the EBA’s drive to boost capital levels at a time of stress.
Mr. Enria calculates that more than 240 billion euros will have been injected into European banks through various measures over 2011 and 2012 through market capital raisings, the EBA exercise and the Greek and Spanish bailouts . The figure compares with $245 billion of support for US banks under the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program .
“The problem is we’ve done it in a piecemeal fashion,” Mr. Enria said. “The decision-making process is complex [in the EU]. If we had a more simplified process, we could have had a European Tarp in one shot and the market impact would have been quite different.”
In a concession, banks whose losses ate into capital buffers would not be required to raise fresh capital immediately. “But we will ask them to have a plan to replenish the capital,” Mr. Enria said.
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