Some banks take bigger dose of Greek debt medicine
Fri Aug 5, 2011 10:58am EDT
* Banks take more than 3 bln euro losses on Greek
bonds
* RBS takes biggest hit with 50 pct writedown
* Others take lower 21 pct haircut, exclude long-dated bonds
By
Steve Slater
LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Top European banks taking a 3 billion euro ($4.2 billion) hit on their Greek bond holdings have left investors guessing by employing markedly different approaches to valuing the debt.
The writedowns disclosed by the banks in their results vary from 21 to 50 percent, showing a wide range of views on what they expect to get back from their holdings of Greek debt.
Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday took a 737 million pound ($1.2 billion) loss, or a 50 percent writedown, on all of its 1.45 billion pounds of Greek bonds, and Germany's Commerzbank will take a hit of over 700 million euros on 3 billion euros of debt, sources told Reuters.
However, rivals have been less conservative and some have taken a 21 percent loss on just a portion of their holdings. That means BNP Paribas , which has the biggest exposure of any bank to Greek government bonds and played a central role in the restructuring, has taken a smaller hit than RBS, despite holding three times the amount of Greek debt.
Much depends on how the banks and their auditors decide to account for the losses.
"Accounting is not an exact science, there are huge areas of judgement, particularly across impairments," said Pauline Wallace, head of public policy at auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"As long as there is proper disclosure around what they've done and the rationale for the decision there is room for manoeuvre, particularly given the complexity of current accounting," she added.
There are echoes of the 2008/09 financial crisis when the way banks accounted for their toxic assets contrasted starkly and accounting rules came under fire for forcing lenders to make huge writedowns when they could least afford it.
The approach taken by Greece's banks is a more crucial issue: they collectively hold two-thirds of the 98 billion euros of Greek sovereign debt held by banks, and are likely to need to raise capital to plug holes from losses.
Banks last month agreed to contribute to a rescue plan for
Greece by taking a 21 percent loss on bonds maturing before 2020, earmarking a 37 billion euro net contribution to the bailout. Participation is voluntary and the offer is expected to be formally launched later this month.
The
deal has prompted banks to take a loss on their bonds in second quarter results.
RBS said its loss was based on market values at the end of June and applied to bonds that mature later than 2020 as well, and it could "write-back" up to 300 million pounds if the industry's haircut is limited to 21 percent.
BNP Paribas took a 534 million euro hit and Dexia lost 338 million euros. They are two of the biggest holders of Greek bonds, and both took a 21 percent loss on bonds that mature before 2020.
How banks take their Greek pain is a complex issue: They can regard "fair value" as a 21 percent discount or the market price at the end of June, when Greek bonds were trading at half their nominal value. Whether to apply it to longer maturity bonds is also a judgement call.
The latest hits cover bonds held in so-called available-for-sale (AFS) portfolios, and once impaired affect the income line and capital position. Trading book assets are more regularly adjusted, and are likely to have been marked down in previous quarters.
Societe Generale took a 395 million euro hit in its second quarter results and Deutsche Bank (
DBKGn.DE) made a 155 million writedown, both taking a 21 percent haircut. Unicredit took a 105 million euro hit.
Intesa Sanpaolo took just a 25 million euro impairment, as most of its holding matures after 2020, and HSBC took a $105 million loss, based on a near 50 percent loss on bonds in its AFS book, as most of its bonds are in its trading book.
Europe's insurers have aggressively written down their Greek sovereign bonds this week, going beyond the 21 percent haircuts taken by most banks.
Regulators are trying to make rules for banks more consistent. Standard-setter the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has for five years been trying to forge a common set of global rules with its U.S. counterpart, but changes have met resistance in some areas.
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