美国银行谈判技巧
Some of America's largest banks are in last-minute talks with the US Government over their capital buffers, days before the results of the banks' stress tests are revealed.
The Federal Reserve and the Treasury tested America's 19 biggest banks to see how they would stand up to a worsening recession. www.751com.cn
The results are due out on Thursday afternoon but there is fierce speculation that the Government will tell some banks, including Citigroup and Bank of America, to raise more cash to help them through the economic crisis.
Talks between the banks, the Fed and the Treasury continued today.
Reports at the weekend suggested that Citigroup may need to raise up to $10 billion in order to ride out a tougher economy. But there was also a possibility that the bank could already have at least $500 million in excess of the Government's requirements, the reports said.
If Citigroup does raise capital, the money is expected to come from private investors rather than the Government, which has already funded the bank with $45 billion and is currently converting some of that bailout to equity, giving taxpayers a stake of up to 37 per cent of the bank.
Citigroup declined to comment on the weekend's speculation.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Bank of America (BoA), which has also received a $45 billion baiout, was working on plans to raise more than $10 billion in fresh capital.
Sources with knowledge of the bank's discussions with regulators said, however, said that BoA had not yet been given a final capital requirement by the Fed and Treasury. Nor was it working on plans to raise capital, sources said.
The stress tests are expected to focus on the banks' likely losses over the next two years, should the recession worsen. The Fed and the Treasury have not yet set out their assumptions on how banks' loan portfolios would be impacted by higher unemployment and falling house prices.