Germany's Commerzbank and Italian lender Intesa Sanpaolo will raise 13.25 billion euros ($18.91 billion) through rights issues as they joined European banks in a scramble to increase capital. The moves by Germany's second-biggest bank and Italy's top retail lender follow demands from financial regulators for tougher bank capital requirements designed to prevent another financial crisis.
Commerzbank, Germany's second-biggest lender, is raising cash to repay state aid the bank received to get it through the crisis. Intesa's rights issue is to bolster its capital. European banks are facing a second round of stress tests this year after a 2010 health check was criticised as too lenient.
Sources told Reuters last week that European banks would have to show they have Core Tier 1 ratio a measure of high-quality capital of 5 percent to pass the exam.
Commerzbank said it would repay most of its 16.2 billion euros of state aid by June, which will help free the bank from government shackles such as a cap on bonuses. Germany's bank restructuring law says that limits on bankers' pay can be lifted if more than half of state aid is repaid, or if interest payments are met.
In a two-step process, including a rights issue between May and June, the bank plans to raise a total of 8.25 billion euros on the capital markets. Commerzbank has said its repayment plan would include raising capital, retaining profits and using capital reserves that are freed up as Commerzbank reduces risky assets.
"Overall, I see the news as neutral," said Michael Rohr, an analyst at Silvia Quandt research in Frankfurt. "Yes, the deal is freeing up the company from the state aid burden. But on the other hand, it is linked to a huge number of shares and that usually is a burden to the shareholder.
"In the short term, we will see shares falling, but in the mid-to-long term, it should be positive." Intesa Sanpaolo has joined Italian peers with its plan to raise 5 billion euros in a rights issue to boost its capital ratios.
Although Italian banks weathered the financial crisis relatively well, their capital ratios overall are at the bottom of the European sector.
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