The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) published the results of its Basel III monitoring exercise on Thursday and revealed that the capital shortfalls of the large, internationally active banks has shrunk by 50 per cent.The BIS analysed a total of 227 banks and divided them into two groups: Group 1 is comprised of 102 internationally active banks with Tier 1 capital of more than €3bn (£2.47bn), while Group 2 is composed of the remaining 125 financial institutions.On the basis of the data used and which runs up to June 30th, 2013, the BIS noted that at the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) target level of 7.0%, the aggregate shortfall for Group 1 banks is €57.5bn (£47.3bn), compared to €115.0bn on December 31st, 2012. Group 2 banks registered a CET1 target level shortfall of €27.7bn (£22.8bn). As opposed to Group 1 banks, this group of financial institutions actually increased their capital shortfall by €2.1bn (£1.73bn). According to the BIS, this was "caused by a small number of Group 2 banks within the sample". From the UK, there were six banks in the Group 1 study and seven in Group 2.JM