The UK’s Financial Policy Committee has urged the country's banks to make use of improved market conditions to raise capital – and even discussed the possibility of making specific recommendations on timing and quantity.

The body, which was given interim responsibility of maintaining financial stability in February 2011 as part of the government's plans to hand regulatory oversight to the Bank of England, has previously recommended the UK's banks should increase their capital through a variety of measures such as limiting cash distributions and bonus payments, rather than constraining lending.