Austria Lenders Need More Capital, Stress Not Over

Austrian banks’ solvency is still below average and new requirements including Basel III rules mean the country’s banks will need to raise additional capital in the medium term, the central bank said.

“We continue to be below the international average” when it comes to core capital, Andreas Ittner, the central bank’s director responsible for bank supervision, said in a briefing in Vienna today, presenting the regulator’s last round of stress tests. “We still need more capital in the Austrian banking sector, partly because of new regulation.”