Fannie would have to double its core capital to be considered a well cushioned commercial bank.
However, orders for core capital goods, including machinery and equipment, fell by 3.2%.
Economists pay close attention to so-called core capital goods orders because they strip out more volatile defense and aircraft orders.
CRD4 will oblige banks to increase the portion of best-quality "core capital" to 4.5%, from the current 2%, that they hold.
Since this would force banks to write off all goodwill against banks' core capital, this might result in a flurry of end-year deals.
Increases last month in both orders and shipments of core capital goods suggest businesses spent more on equipment and software in the January-March quarter.
The result will be that RBS's core capital ratio hits a whopping 12.4%, about double the level at JPMorgan Chase, America's soundest big bank.
Core capital goods orders are down approximately 7% over the last three months, they explained, while 6-month forward capital spending plans have fallen to pre-recession levels.
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"We create companies that didn't exist before, and we create jobs that didn't exist before, " says Jonathan Silver, managing director of Core Capital Partners, a Washington, D.
The big banks will breathe a sigh of relief that 10% is expected to emerge as the new norm for their core capital ratio - partly because they have taken pre-emptive action and already meet that target.
And Nationwide's balance sheet, on paper at least, is stronger than that of any of the big banks, with loss-absorbing core capital equivalent to 12.5% of risk-weighted assets, 2.5 percentage points higher than the banks' capital ratios.
Michael Trippitt of Oriel Securities said HSBC had been looked at unfairly by the market for having a relatively low core capital ratio, a key measure of a bank's reserves to back up its lending and investment portfolio.
The new rules require them to hold core capital of 10% and up to 9% of contingent capital, a type of debt that converts to equity in times of trouble, and to show how they would wind up their business in a crisis.
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By the end of June 2012, banks are expected to establish a core-capital ratio of 9%.
But Bill Spiropoulos president and CEO of Core States Capital Advisors was dealt a paranoid client way before any flash crash occurred.
The Bank of England's Financial Stability Review shows that Barclays' retail banking loans in Spain, Italy and bailed-out Portugal are equivalent to a bit more than its core equity capital - its buffer against losses.
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The bank was able to point to progress in shoring up its capital, reporting that core tier one capital if incoming Basel III banking rules were applied had reached 8 per cent, three months earlier than planned.
On a core basis, capital goods expenditures jumped 2.7% much better than the anticipated 0% increase.
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It says that, by applying today's rules, RBS had core tier one capital of only 2% by the end of 2007.
It was "an opportunistic measure and allowed Commerzbank to strengthen its core Tier 1 capital, given current market conditions, " the spokesman said.
Banks will also be forced to increase their core tier 1 capital ratio to 9% by the end of 2011 and 10% by 2012, according to a note by Nomura.
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The bank's so-called core Tier 1 capital ratio under new regulations known as Basel III rose to 8% from 6% a year earlier, then dropped to 7.8% after the bank provisioned for legal costs.
The bank's profit number beat consensus forecasts by about 5 per cent, and the core tier one capital ratio -- a key measure of financial strength -- was also slightly ahead of expectations at 12.3 per cent.
In order to support high levels of wholesale funding, UBS says, banks may need to demonstrate levels of core Tier one capital, which is effectively common equity, well in excess of the levels most Eurozone banks currently hold.
While the bank reported that its core Tier 1 capital ratio grew to 10.5% from 9.4%, it dedicated a large chunk of its report to the proposed Basel III and the negative repercussions it would have on its business.
Analysts believe the lender could have a core tier one capital ratio of close to 20 per cent initially, falling to 9 per cent -- the level required by the troika agreement -- in three years' time once losses have been incurred and recognised.
On Dexia, it was only on July 15 that the European Banking Authority disclosed that this retail and public-sector finance bank would have a ratio of core Tier One capital to assets of 10.4%, even after incurring notional losses from harsh simulated financial and economic conditions.
He refused to be drawn on what the final outcome would be, but he did not deny that expectations of banks such as HSBC that they'll be forced to hold what's known as core tier one capital equivalent to around 10% of risk-weighted assets are in the right ballpark - or about 3 percentage points more than the new 7% minimum for all banks.
Mr Miles said that the optimal ratio of core tier one equity capital to risk-weighted assets would be 19%.
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