StockBeat: Europe Bank Stocks Soar as EU Loosens Capital Rules

Investing.com — European bank stocks soared on Thursday as the ECB’s top banking supervisor told the European Parliament that a new tweak to how it interprets capital requirements will cut the struggling sector more slack.

Andrea Enria estimated that the net impact of the ECB’s new approach would give banks an average of 90 basis points on capital relief, in relation to their common equity tier 1 ratio (the ECB’s preferred measure of financial strength).

The new approach, detailed under the EU’s Capital Requirement Directive V, would let banks met a bigger proportion of their overall capital requirements with subordinated debt instruments, which could if necessary be converted to equity by the regulator if a bank gets into trouble.

Spanish banks were among the biggest beneficiaries, with all six of the country’s largest institutions rising more than 3%. Banco Sabadell (MC:) rose 4.7%, while Bankia (MC:) rose 4.5%.

In Germany, Commerzbank (DE:) rose 4.8% while Deutsche Bank (DE:) rose 3.4%.

ABN AMRO (AS:) and Austrian-based Raiffeisen Bank International (VIE:) were also among the biggest beneficiaries.

Societe Generale (PA:) rose 2.4%, while Credit Agricole (PA:) rose 2.3%.

All the stocks in question also benefited from the broader uplift to markets given by news that the U.S. is preparing to make major concessions with regard to import tariffs on Chinese goods.

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