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Empresas y finanzas

U.S. tells Citi, BofA to increase capital: report


    BANGALORE (Reuters) - Based on the results of recently concluded "stress tests," U.S. regulators told Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp they may need to raise more capital, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

    The shortfall in capital amounts to billions of dollars at BofA, the paper said, citing people familiar with the bank.

    Both banks, whose officials are objecting to the preliminary findings of the tests, plan to respond with detailed rebuttals, the people told the paper, adding BofA's appeal is expected by Tuesday.

    It is likely that Citigroup and BofA are not the only banks that the Federal Reserve has determined might need more capital, the paper said.

    A BofA spokesman in New York did not immediately return a call seeking comment, while a Citigroup spokesman in Hong Kong declined to comment on the report.

    STRESS TEST DETAILS AWAITED

    The United States broadly outlined how it "stress tested" the health of the country's top 19 banks on Friday, but disappointed investors who were looking for more details of how stringent the tests were.

    The Federal Reserve has said most of the 19 banks have capital levels well in excess of the amounts required to be deemed well capitalized.

    However, it said heavy losses had lowered capital and choked off lending.

    The results of the tests will be released during the week of May 4, and regulators hope that by outlining the methodology they employed, investors will have a way to gauge the results.

    Some banks with too thin a capital cushion will have six months to find private funds, others may need to accept an immediately infusion of taxpayer money.

    The 19 banks tested, which include JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co, hold two-thirds of the assets and more than one-half of the loans in the U.S. banking system.

    (Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)