No extra capital for Clydesdale

Banks in Britain are topping up their capital, and in the case of four of the country's largest banks, spectacularly so.

One odd bank out in this process is NAB's subsidiary Clydesdale Bank.

The Financial Services Authority has established higher tier one capital ratios for most banks in Britain and subjected banks to much more severe stress testing designed to model the impact of a very severe recession.

Most of the commentary on the recapitalisation of British banks focuses on the four clearing banks in need of capital.

Three of those banks - RBS, Lloyds TSB and HBOS - will collectively collect £37 billion capital from the government in ordinary and preference shares.

Barclays Bank will raise £6 billion in new capital without government aid, or will at least seek to do so.

HSBC Holdings will tip another £750 million into HSBC Bank Plc, its domestic banking business in Britain.

Spain's Santander yesterday said it would invest an additional £1 billion in its British banking subsidiaries (Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley) and said it would not seek any capital from Britain's government.

Standard Chartered has said it has plenty of capital and meets the revised tests for bank capital in Britain.

One bank that has not commented on its capital plans is NAB'sClydesdale.

The half-year accounts for Clydesdale show the bank had a tier one capital ratio of 7.5 per cent at March 2008, down 60 basis points over 12 months.

Santander, which operates the most similar banking business to that of NAB in Britain, is aiming for a tier one capital ratio of more than nine per cent.