Shares in Barclays up 7 pct after BoE leverage ratio delay

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Shares in Barclays roseby 7 percent after Britain's financial regulator said banks haduntil 2019 to hit a new target that will cap the size of theirbusinesses at about 20 times their equity.

Banking sources had expected lenders to have to meet the newtargets, dubbed a leverage ratio, by 2017. The actualrequirement, which means banks' equity could have to be as highas 4.95 percent of their total assets, is at the harsher end ofindustry expectations.

Barclays' leverage ratio currently stands at 3.5 percent,the lowest among British banks and it would have come under themost scrutiny had a tighter deadline been imposed.

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group were up 2.3 percent,Royal Bank of Scotland shares were up 5.4 percent andHSBC shares were up by 1.8 percent.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Laura Noonan)