Debt capital markets bankers had been looking forward to a world beyond bank recapitalisations, which dominated activity in 2008 and 2009. But that was short lived. Changes in the regulatory landscape suggest yet another wave of bank capital raising could be on the way this year.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published two discussion papers outlining proposed changes to the capital rules regulating banks last December, introducing the so called Basel III rules. The committee has proposed a cleaned up and more stringent treatment of eligible Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital, which banks need to balance their liabilities.