Tier 1 capital

UBS said the combined moves would lift the bank's Tier 1 capital ratio to more than 12 per cent.

It has a stonking Tier 1 capital ratio of 18% and generates enough capital internally to grow at about 25% a year.

But the bank's core Tier-1 capital ratio will fall to 8. 8% as a result of the repayment.

That figure represents a quarter of the five top U. S. financial firms' Tier 1 capital, a measure of a bank's ability to absorb losses.

Volcker allows banks to invest up to 3% of their Tier-1 capital in prop trading, hedge funds and private equity.

By profits, Tier-1 capital, dividends and market value they now account for a quarter to half of the global banking industry.

Without going into the gory details of my calculations, the Tier 1 capital shortfall is $753 billion under those very liberal assumptions.

But as the euro debt crisis has amply demonstrated, Tier 1 capital ratios can be wildly deceptive.

Banks must have a Core Tier 1 ratio of at least 7 percent under new Basel III capital rules agreed by regulators last month.

Tier 1 capital should be at least 7 per cent of risk-weighted assets.

The bank's tier 1 capital ratio, an important indicator of financial strength, widened to 9. 7% from 9. 2% in the year-earlier period.

Tier 1 capital excluded loan loss reserves and a portion of preferred equity.

Make common equity represent at least 60 per cent of Tier 1 capital.

Tier 1 capital includes common and preferred stock, cash reserves and certain other long-term "hybrid" securities.

Under the original 1988 Basel 1 rules governing bank capital, the bulk of banks' tier-one capital had to be common equity.

Among big banks, Wells scores poorly on Tier-1 common equity, the core-capital measure favoured by regulators (see chart).

Leverage levels are arbitrary anyway (as they are for Tier 1 regulatory capital requirements).

Credit Suisse now boasts a robust capital position, with a Tier 1 ratio of 15. 5%, and manageable credit exposures.

"We could still have had 8 per cent tier 1 capital after a $15bn loss but we wanted a cushion. "

Yet banks are also thinly capitalised: the core "tier 1" capital of big UK banks is a mere 4 per cent of liabilities.

The effect was to lower Tier 1 capital to as little as 2% of risk-adjusted assets.

No, what keeps bankers from Tokyo to New York up at night is worry over how Basel III will define Tier 1 capital.

Mizuho's medium-term target is to increase its consolidated Tier 1 capital ratio to 8 per cent.

They should cover a three-year period and look at liquidity as well as core tier 1 capital.

Hybrid securities accounted for almost a third of Mizuho's Tier 1 capital.

So the draft proposal would tighten the definition of Tier 1 capital.

This will rebuild their capital cushions, or so-called Tier-1 capital ratios, to above 9%.

Unbelievably, Tier 1 capital ratios for Bank of America and Citigroup declined 21% and 17%, respectively, during 2007.

According to banking regulators, China's banks had an average Tier 1 capital ratio of 10. 1% at the end of 2010.

Its Tier 1 capital level, which reflects a bank's ability to absorb bad loans, was 11. 3% of total assets in the first quarter.

Total Tier 1 capital for the Top 1000 rose 10. 5%, to $5433bn, comfortably outpacing the growth in assets.

They will have until 2019 to comply fully with the 7% core Tier 1 capital-ratio requirement.

Unlike banks, GE Capital doesn't disclose a Tier 1 ratio.

Ireland will seek to raise the core tier 1 capital levels of its banks to between 10. 5 percent and 12 percent, the people said.

And use a leverage test that is based on total capital, not Tier 1, and calibrated to avoid unintended consequences.

Citigroup's Tier 1 Capital ratio was 12. 0% compared to 11. 3% in the prior quarter.

Under the same assumptions, and before the government's latest investment, Citigroup would have a Tier-1 capital ratio of 8. 64 percent.