Fitch says British banks could need more capital

LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - British banks could beunderestimating the riskiness of their property loans and mayneed more capital to correct this, ratings agency Fitch said onThursday.

"We expect that banks will have to set aside more capitaland that this requirement will probably be addressed either byway of additional capital buffers or higher risk weightings forcertain classes of loans," Claudia Nelson, senior director offinancial institutions at Fitch, told Reuters.

"The measures are likely to be introduced gradually."

Nelson declined to say how much more capital banks mightneed.