Management views about desired capital: The case of UK banks and building societies

This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK banks and building societies undertaken to understand management’s reasons behind their decisions about capital. The survey shows that: (a) firms use different approaches to form their views about “desired” capital; (b) the main factors explaining the level of a firm’s desired capital are financing the firm’s long‐term business strategy and FSA’s capital requirements; (c) actual capital usually exceeds firms’ desired capital; (d) a change in a firm’s individual capital requirements is likely to lead to a change in its desired capital in the medium term. The paper reflects the authors’ views and not the corporate views of the FSA.