€d_artsel schreef op 26 januari 2012 11:15:
BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- German lawmakers Thursday approved a bill to reactivate its bank bailout fund SoFFin to help banks weather the current debt crisis and improve their capital base.
The SoFFin will give up to EUR400 billion in guarantees for banks and provide up to EUR80 billion for recapitalization. The fund, which for the first time will accept euro-zone government bonds, will be operational until Dec. 31 2012.
The bill comes as banks are required to improve their balance sheets. European regulators have demanded banks come up with new capital by June, with German banks alone having to come up with EUR13.1 billion in new capital by June.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers he is confident that banks won't need to tap the fund.
"It seems that German banks will manage," Schaeuble told lawmakers in a debate on the bill. "This law will probably never have to be used."
He said the SoFFin is a "preventive measure" to help make the euro single currency more resilient against contagion risks.
Under the law, banks will be allowed to dump any kind of security, and not just structured securities as was previously the case, into a special purpose vehicle, including soured government bonds from euro-zone countries.
This could help them to reduce their holdings of sovereign bonds from Italy and Spain, which have rapidly fallen in value due to concern about the countries' debt levels and the euro-zone debt crisis.
Commerzbank AG (CBK.XE) is seen as the most likely German bank that might have to tap the fund. Media reports have suggested that Commerzbank might dump off its real estate subsidiary Eurohypo to SoFFin because the bank has to close a EUR5.3 billion capital gap that the European Banking Authority has identified.
But Commerzbank Chief Executive Officer Martin Blessing has said he aims to plug the gap without help from SoFFin.
-By Andrea Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires, 49 30 2888 4125;
andrea.thomas@dowjones.com(Andreas Kissler in Berlin contributed to this article.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 26, 2012 05:10 ET (10:10 GMT)
© 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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