Tier 1 capital ratio disclosure to put Goldman on top - Whit
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  June 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street investment banks are likely to\ndisclose Tier 1 capital ratios for the first time when they\nreport quarterly earnings in two weeks, a new metric that is\nlikely to put Goldman Sachs <GS.N> at the top of the industry,\ninfluential analyst Meredith Whitney said.\nWhitney, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, does not expect any\nof the firms to be under-capitalized. She sees their Tier 1\ncapital ratios in a range of 8 percent to 11 percent, placing\nMerrill Lynch <MER.N> at the bottom of the group.\nThe analyst believes the brokers are broadly overvalued and\ndisclosure of the ratios could provide investors additional\ninsight into their balance sheets.\n"In sum, with these new disclosures, capital will once again\nbe at the forefront of investors' minds over the next six weeks,"\nsaid Whitney, who shot to prominence last year after pointing to\nCitigroup's <C.N> deepening credit losses and correctly\npredicting it would cut its dividend and go on a capital-raising\nspree.\nShe said it was in the best interest of financial companies\nto remain well capitalized. "With continued industry headwinds,\nwe expect the potential for continued capital raises throughout\nthis year and potentially into next."\n(Reporting by Akshay Lodaya in Bangalore; Editing by Pratish\nNarayanan)\n((akshay.lodaya@reuters.com; Outside U.S. 91 80 4135 5800;\nwithin U.S. 1 646 223 8786; Reuters Messaging\nakshay.lodaya.reuters.com@reuters.net; ))\nKeywords: USBROKERS/RESEARCH OPPENHEIMER