IMF's Lagarde: report of $273.2 billion bank hole misleading

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Saturday that reports of a draft IMF document showing a $273.2 billlion shortfall in European banks' capital were misleading and the lender was still finalizing its study.

"There has been misreporting about the 200 billion euros, this number is tentative," Lagarde told a news conference after G7 and G8 finance talks in the southern French city of Marseille.

"This is not a stress test that the IMF conducts nor is it the global capital need for European banking institutions, that it is not, and we are currently in discussions with our European partners to assess the global methodology until we reach a tentative draft. It will be published before the end of September."

(Reporting by Daniel Flynn and Robin Emmott; Editing by Catherine Bremer)