European Central Bank sets bank capital rules

The European Central Bank’s supervisory arm has set the capital levels the eurozone’s largest lenders must hold and will communicate its draft decisions to the banks shortly, according to sources.

The ECB took over regulation of the region’s biggest banks late last year and was due to decide on the minimum Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, a key measure of a lender’s ability to absorb losses, that each bank has to hold.

The draft decisions, made late last week, cover most of the 123 banks under the ECB’s supervision.