Stress Test Results Show Banks Need $74.6 Billion

The Federal Reserve just released the results of its stress tests. You can see the Fed's 38-page document discussing those results here, and our list of the 19 institutions is here, along with the capital buffer that regulators say each bank needs to raise over the next six months.

The total buffer required is $74.6 billion, the document says. That's what regulators say the banks need to survive the dire economic scenario envisioned under the tests. The document also lays out what losses the banks might suffer under such a scenario.

As we've mentioned before, the banks have a number of options for raising the money. In a press conference earlier today, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that his sense was that the banks are "reasonably confident" that they could raise the money privately. If they can't raise it privately, they could convert preferred shares (which operate like bonds) that the government already holds to common stock. In all but two cases, it seems that the banks won't require new bailout money. Those two banks are GMAC and Regions Financial, which need $9.1 billion and $400 million in new capital (i.e., a stock conversion wouldn't cut it), respectively.

Follow @paulkiel