One issue has dominated the thinking of global banks this year – do they have enough capital and how will they raise more?
The credit crisis has seen western banks running short of capital in a way that no regulator or banker had ever foreseen. The sector has taken more than $493bn of writedowns on structured credit portfolios rooted in US subprime mortgages. This has wiped out profitability and eroded the regulatory capital bases of most banks.
