$273bn bank hole in EU report misleading, says IMF

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said that reports of a draft IMF document showing a $273.2 billion shortfall in European banks’ capital were misleading and the lender was still finalising its study.

‘There has been misreporting about the 200 billion euros, this number is tentative,’ Lagarde told a news conference after G7 and G8 finance talks in the southern French city of Marseille.

‘This is not a stress test that IMF conducts nor is it the global capital need for European banking institutions, that it is not, and we are currently in discussions with our European partners to assess the global methodology until we reach a tentative draft. It will be published before the end of September.’-Reuters