The enforcement agency for financial stability of the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations on Friday published the long-awaited list of those banks it will force to hold more capital because of their importance to the global financial system.

The list of Globally Systemically Important Financial Institutions is very much as had been expected, with 17 European banks, eight US ones, three Japanese and one Chinese on it. Two large European banks, Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaria Argentaria and Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo, are conspicuous by their absence, due largely to their concentration of activities in their home markets.