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...last week, Citigroup seemed to have dodged a bullet. The bank, long thought to be in the worst shape among the nation's largest lenders, was said to need just $5.5 billion in capital in order to return to health. No small sum, to be sure. But amazingly, what Citi was required to raise was less than half the $13.7 billion that competitor Wells Fargo was told to come up with. And far less than the nearly $34 billion that regulators said Bank of America needed to bolster its capital by in the next six months...
...little deeper, though, and Citi's stress-test results look more like an F than the B+ the bank seemed to get. Among the 19 banks the government probed, Citi was found to have the lowest common capital ratio, which the government said was a key measure to protect against insolvency. What's more, Citi also got credit for a capital conversion it has yet to complete. Strip that out, and the amount of capital Citi needs balloons to nearly $63 billion, more than any of the other banks tested. (See pictures of the dangers of printing money...
...Indeed, Citi's shares initially rose on the news that it would have to raise less capital than some of its competitors. But since the full results of the stress test have come out, Citi's shares are down 8%, to a recent $3.50. That compares to a drop of just 2.5% in the same time for JPMorgan, which was deemed to be among the banks that are relatively healthy. "I think Citigroup is an interesting stock, but we don't own it," says Edward Maran, portfolio manager of the Thornburg Value Fund. "If the government gives the company...
...light-handed. By early June, the banks that were deemed to need capital will have to submit their money-raising plans to regulators. Government officials have said they intend to make management changes at the banks if the plans are deemed inadequate. Despite the relatively small $5.5 billion Citi was told to raise, the stress test deepened concerns about the bank. That means the hurdle Citi will have to jump in order to prove its management is up to the task could be higher than for the other banks...
...stress tests, the government said it decided to emphasize common capital because that was the measure that ultimately leads to "lowering the risk of insolvency." Citi's common capital ratio, at just 2.3%, was closer to zero than any other of the banks the government looked at. State Street's ratio at 15.5%, which was the highest of the banks, was nearly seven times greater than Citi's. Fourteen of the banks the government examined had a common capital ratio above 5%. The next lowest ratio to Citi was Wells Fargo, which had a common capital ratio...