Bloomberg reported that BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, aims to boost its common equity tier 1 capital ratio to 9% by the start of 2013 as it scales back U.S. dollar corporate- and investment-banking business.

BNP Paribas is taking steps to cut risk-weighted assets by about $96 billion to increase the capital ratio by 1 percentage point by the end of next year under Basel III rules, the Paris-based bank said in a presentation on its website today. As part of the effort, BNP Paribas is cutting its corporate- and investment-banking balance sheet by $82 billion.

Bloomberg said the French bank is seeking to reduce lending at the equipment solutions unit by about $4.1 billion as it scales down activity in the U.K., Switzerland and Hungary and exits some leasing activities such as real estate, yachts and business jets.

To read the Bloomberg news report click here.