US ratings agency out with a note on Australian banks 19 July

  • the 4 major Aussie banks should be able to meet APRA requirements comfortably
  • it is possible that major banks will issue fresh equity if they see benefit in raising extra capital ahead of schedule

Earlier Moody's had this:

  • higher capital requirements will improve the resilience of Aussie banks and particularly the larger banks
  • APRA's announcement to have greater impact on banks utilizing internal ratings based model for determining risk-weighted assets
  • APRA raising minimum common equity Tier 1 ratio for Aussie banks will improve banking system's resilience

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is demanding that the country's Big Four banks - ANZ, Westpac, NAB and CBA - maintain an "unquestionably strong" Common Equity Tier 1 level of at least 10.5%, substantially higher than a current global benchmark of 8%. For large Australian banks, APRA says this means raising minimal capital requirements by the equivalent of 150 basis points from current levels.

More from Reuters here.

Meanwhile AUDUSD giving up a few gains to fall back to 0.7915 after once again failing into 0.7950.Demand nearby into 0.7900 then 0.7880 should losses extend that far.

AUDUSD 15m