The capital exercise proposed by the EBA and agreed by the Council on 26 October 2011 requires banks to strengthen their capital positions by building up a temporary capital buffer against sovereign debt exposures to reflect current market prices. In addition, it requires them to establish a buffer such that the Core Tier 1 capital ratio reaches a level of 9% by the end of June 2012. The amount of any final capital shortfall identified is based on September 2011 figures. The amount of the sovereign capital buffer will not be revised.
71 banks across Europe, including RBS, were subject to the capital exercise whose objective is to create an exceptional and temporary capital buffer to address current market concerns over sovereign risk and other residual credit risk related to the current difficult market environment. This buffer would explicitly not be designed to cover losses in sovereigns but to provide a reassurance to markets about banks’ ability to withstand a range of shocks and still maintain adequate capital.
Following completion of the capital exercise conducted by the European Banking Authority, in close cooperation with the competent national authority, the exercise has determined that RBS meets the 9% Core Tier 1 ratio after the removal of the prudential filters on sovereign assets in the Available-for-Sale portfolio and prudent valuation of sovereign debt in the Loans and receivables portfolios, reflecting current market prices.
The methodology underlying the capital exercise was outlined by the EBA prior to its announcement to ensure consistency across all banks in the EU banking system involved in the exercise.
RBS confirms it remains well capitalised with a Core Tier 1 capital ratio under the exercise of 10.5% compared with our published ratio of 11.3% as of 30 September 2011.
The removal of prudential filters on sovereign assets prescribed by the EBA recapitalisation exercise lead to a positive revaluation reserve adjustment of £1,050m, hence there was no impact on the Core Tier 1 ratio under the exercise.
