British banks need to raise £27bn to plug hole

The eight British major banks and building societies need to supplement approximately 27.1 billion pounds (42 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of this year to meet the requirement of "7 percent ratio", said Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) on Thursday. In the report released in London, the regulatory body under the Bank of England said that by using the Basel III definition of equity capital, Royal Bank of Scotland faces the biggest pressure on plugging the capital hole. The 81-percent state-owned bank needs to raise 13.6 billion pounds. Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays need to supplement 8.6 billion pounds and 3 billion pounds within this year respectively; Co-operative Bank, which is under pressure on capital restructure, registers a 1.5 billion hole. HSBC, Santander UK and Standard Chartered, however, do not have a capital shortfall against the 7 percent post-adjustment standard, said PRA. PRA and Financial Conduct Authority have been acting as the financial regulator in Britain since this April, replacing the former Financial Service Authority. Both regulators are affiliated with the Financial Policy Committee of BoE.