LEAD: EU bank recapitalization figures expected next week

Nov 30, 2011, 17:23 GMT

Brussels - The European Banking Authority (EBA) will announce 'early next week' final figures for the recapitalization needs of the European Union's largest banks, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Wednesday.

'The EBA will publish (the information) at the start of next week,' Schaeuble said on the margins of a meeting in Brussels with EU counterparts.

The figures had been expected by the end of November.

In October, EU leaders agreed that banks should temporarily hold on to more capital. That way, the banks could compensate for the loss in value of government bonds from troubled eurozone states that they hold on their books.

On Wednesday, Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski - whose country holds the EU presidency - said banks were not allowed to improve their position by cutting down on risky loans - action that might further depress a European economy on the brink of recession.

'Deleveraging is not a way to achieve the required level of capital strength,' he said. The only 'exception,' Rostowski stressed, was the possibility to raise capital by selling parts of their businesses.

Last month, estimates put the value of the recapitalization plan at 108 billion euros (145 billion dollars). The EBA is due to update the figure, taking into account the devaluation of bank-held eurozone bonds as of September 30, which was chosen as the reference date.

The London-based watchdog is expected to detail, country by country and bank by bank, how much money will be needed to meet the recapitalization targets, which will have to be met by the end of June 2012.

Seventy banks are involved in the process.