Commonwealth Bank took an indirect shot at APRA's approach to measuring bank capital adequacy yesterday, arguing that on alternative measures used offshore the bank's capital base was among the highest in the world.David Craig, the bank's chief financial officer, said the bank commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to analyse the bank's capital base applying the regulatory standards used in other markets. Using APRA's method, CBA estimates its capital ratio to be 8.5 per cent, above the minimum of eight per cent (including the capital conservation and D-SIB buffers.)In Canada, Europe and South Africa, CBA's ratio would be 12.7 per cent, two to three percentage points more than for many of its international peers, which are subject to even more stringent rules on minimum capital than CBA. Craig said that the Financial System Inquiry was "going to look at this question of why Australian banks have so much more cap than anyone else."