2008-10-27 18 h 20 :: telegraph.co.uk :: Banks in Japan and Europe unveil plans to raise £11bn (dette Islande envers Japon)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/3269505/Banks-in-Japan-and-Europe-unveil-plans-to-raise-11bn-financial-crisis.html

Banks in Japan and Europe unveil plans to raise £11bn
Four banks – Mitsubishi, Deutsche Postbank, KBC and Swedbank – unveiled plans to raise capital totalling £11bn yesterday, sending financial shares plummeting on fears of stock dilution.

By Rowena Mason
Last Updated: 6:20PM GMT 27 Oct 2008

Japanese banks recorded the biggest stock market losses for 20 years after Mitsubishi announced the largest rights issue of 1 trillion yen (£6.7bn) in common and preferred shares.

Germany's Deutsche Postbank later followed its lead by launching an £800m rights issue, citing its exposure to Lehman Brothers as the cause of its capital shortage. Sweden's Swedbank offered £1bn in preference shares and Belgium's KBC will get £2.8bn from the government in return for preference shares.

The European banks asked for shareholder and government support in the midst of credit losses and writedowns after the global interbank lending market dried up earlier this year.

Germany's biggest consumer bank, Deutsche Postbank, made the decision to raise capital after admitting a £360m loss – its first in more than a decade – sending its share price down 25pc in early trading.

"Postbank has been hit hard from the financial crisis," said chief executive Wolfgang Klein. "Next year will be challenging... in a recessionary environment."

Unlike the European banks, analysts believe Mitsubishi needs to generate cash following its £5.8bn investment in Morgan Stanley and £2.3bn acquisition of UnionBanCal.

"The financial crisis worsens worldwide," a Mitsubishi spokesman said. "The group aims for enhanced stabilisation of its financial base and further corporate growth as a global financial group by implementing this capital reinforcement."

Japanese investors were dealt a second blow after Kaupthing, the nationalised Icelandic bank, became the first European company to default on a Japanese samurai bond.

The bank missed the final deadline for a 450m yen (£3m) bond interest payment on 50bn yen (£350m) of samurai bonds, raising fears for confidence in the traditionally cheap source of borrowing for foreign companies.

Kaupthing's inability to honour its obligations in Japan also indicates that the bank may not be able to meet payments for £17.2bn of bonds worldwide.

Benedikt Sigurdsson, Kaupthing's spokesman in Reykjavik, said the bank's international operations were no longer its responsibility.

"There is a receivership committee working on behalf of the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority, so we can't tell when foreign assets will be sold or how much money will reach creditors," he said.


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