Europe banks head for Asia to boost capital

Singapore

EUROPEAN banks are heading to Asia for capital as new rules at home demand they sell more than US$1 trillion of equity and subordinated debt to increase loss buffers.

French and German lenders have sold the equivalent of US$1.8 billion in notes that act as a cushion in case of insolvency this year, in denominations from the Chinese yuan to the Japanese yen. Before this year, they'd issued none. Dutch and Italian banks that began issuing in the region in 2012 have also stepped up activity.