The world's largest and most active banks need €208.2 billion to meet minimum capital requirements, fresh estimates released by the Bank for International Settlements last night show.The BIS released the results of a periodic monitoring exercise by the Basel Committee on the banks' preparations for Basel III. There were 210 banks reviewed in the current study, comprising 101 "group one" banks (those that have tier-one capital in excess of €3 billion and are internationally active) plus 109 other banks.The study found that, based on data as of June 2012, the average common equity tier-one ratio (CET1) of group one banks was 8.5 per cent (this compares with the Basel III minimum requirement of 4.5 per cent).In order for all group one banks to reach the 4.5 per cent minimum, an increase of €3.7 billion in capital would be required, the BIS said. The overall shortfall increases to €208.2 billion to achieve a CET1 target of 7.0 per cent (this higher target includes the capital conservation buffer and an additional surcharge for global systemically important banks.)The BIS said the aggregate profit of the group one banks in the year to June 2012 was €379.6 billion. The needed capital is thus equal to around six months' profit.Globally, the industry is thus making progress towards meeting its capital needs. The last such review, released in April 2012, put the capital needs at the equivalent of 15 months' profit. For all the other banks in the BIS study, the average CET1 ratio stood at 9.0 per cent. In order for all group two banks in the sample to meet the new 4.5 per cent CET1 ratio, the BIS estimates the additional capital needs to be €4.8 billion - or €16.0 billion to reach a CET1 target of 7.0 per cent.