Australia's big banks rally on 'benign' capital requirements

Sydney

SHARES of Australia's big four lenders rallied as new capital requirements aimed at ensuring the banks are "unquestionably strong" turned out to be less onerous than expected.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) and Westpac Banking Corp will need to have Tier-1 capital ratios of at least 10.5 per cent by January 1, 2020, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The average across the banks at the end of last year was 9.85 per cent, according to Morgan Stanley calculations, putting the lenders within close reach of the new target.

"The new requirements look relatively benign," said Anthony Ip, a credit analyst at Citigroup Inc. "The majors may well be able to meet the new requirements organically without equity raisings, ass…