KBC GroupNV increased the share capital of its unit by subscribingfor an additional 224 million ordinary shares of €1.25 each in the subsidiary, TheIrish Times reported July 16.

The move wascarried out by the Belgium lender to fulfill a requirement of the to change the structure of itscapital buffers in KBC Bank Ireland. The central bank required the Irish unitto maintain a common equity Tier 1 ratio of 10.5% as of June 30. The subsidiaryreplaced an existing €280 million Additional Tier 1 capital instrument heldentirely by KBC Group with ordinary shares, according to the news source.

KBC bank Ireland'scapital now consists completely of equity as a result of KBC Group'ssubscription of additional share capital.