One-third (33 percent) of recently polled bankers nationwide said that their bank was very likely to go the market to raise capital in the next 12 months, or has already successfully gone to the market to raise capital.
Of those surveyed in Chicago’s Grant Thornton LLP’s 17th Bank Executive Survey, conducted in conjunction with Bank Director magazine, 22 percent said they’d likely go to the market, while 11 percent already have.
Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed said they will not seek capital. None of those surveyed said they went to the market to raise capital, but have been unsuccessful.
"While some banks have to raise more capital for regulatory reasons, others are doing so to take advantage of this unique market situation," said John Ziegelbauer, national managing partner of Grant Thornton’s Financial Institutions practice. "They may want to use the extra capital to expand their bank’s geographic footprint through an FDIC-assisted transaction or possibly other acquisitions."
"There is also a lot of uncertainty with regards to regulatory reform and banks could be raising capital now to ensure that they have a sufficient amount under any new rules that are created as part of the Wall Street reform effort," Ziegelbauer said.
