Investors who supported those bank capital raisings may be regretting it already.
Key numbers from the market turmoil in January this year include 96.2%, the extent by which the market capitalization of RBS had shrunk between mid-year 2007 and January 20 2009, from $120 billion to $4.6 billion. Over the same period Citigroup’s market capitalization fell by 92.5% from $255 billion to $19 billion. Barclays’ market cap fell 91.9%. All that makes HSBC look quite robust for shedding just 54.9% of its market value ($215 billion to $97 billion) and JPMorgan a strong performer for shrinking its market value by just 48.5% (from $165 billion on the eve of the crisis to $85 billion). Santander is positively stellar, shrinking just 44.8%.
