Citigroup and Bank of America may need more capital Citigroup and Bank of America face the embarrassing prospect of asking the US government for fresh capital after a report said they had failed US Treasury stress tests. By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent Last Updated: 4:40PM BST 28 Apr 2009
The two banks – which between them have received $90bn (£61bn) of Treasury capital plus $424bn of loan-loss guarantees – are believed to need the money to bolster their capital positions after the tests showed their balance sheets were not as strong as first thought. Although the results of the tests are not due to be published until May 4 at the earliest, the Wall Street Journal reported that both banks were in need of fresh funds. It did not quantify the amounts. Shares in both banks retreated on the report, with BoA down 62 cents at $8.30, and Citigroup off 15 cents at $2.92. Citigroup and BoA are understood to have been informed of the Treasury’s findings last Friday, and since then are believed to have contested the findings with officials from both the Treasury and the US Federal Reserve in a series of tense meetings. BoA is known to be on the verge of filing a formal rebuttal, amid suggestions that some of the assumptions behind the tests are somewhat questionable. The tests are based on worse-case scenarios, looking into whether institution’s balance sheets would be able to withstand further major shocks to the financial system. If a bank is found to have failed the tests, it will be given six months to raise the extra capital, either through private fundraising or from the government. The timing of the news, ahead of BoA’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, placed further pressure on the position of chairman and chief executive Ken Lewis. A number of major investors and activists have been leading the call for Mr Lewis to be unseated at the AGM, citing unhappiness with the Merrill Lynch takeover deal, a deal which forced BoA to take an extra $20bn in government capital and take on an $118bn loan-loss guarantee. In the last week, documents published by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed that Mr Lewis attempted to pull out of the Merrill deal last December, when he became aware of the quantum of losses at the investment bank. But Mr Cuomo’s documents also showed that then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson threatened Mr Lewis with being unseated were he to go ahead with making his concerns public. Wednesday’s vote at the BoA AGM is likely to be a close-run contest, and it remains unclear whether Mr Lewis has enough support among institutional investors to hang on. In any event, the Obama administration has made it clear that major banks requiring more government capital will be subjected to senior management changes in return for fresh funding, as was the case at General Motors where chairman Rick Wagoner was ousted in return for additional support. Both banks declined to comment until the stress test results are announced, a date which may yet slip from the intended May 4 if a number of banks contest their results. A Citigroup spokesman however countered that its regulatory capital base is strong, and pointed to its ongoing swap of exchanging preferred capital in to ordinary shares as evidence of the measures it its taking to bolster its balance sheet. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
