U.S. May equity issuance hits record $49 bln

* U.S. ECM volume hits record $48.8 bln in May

* U.S. government bank stress tests prompt equity activities

* Global follow-on volume at $65.9 bln, 4th biggest ever

LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - Robust capital-raising among U.S. banks sent equity capital markets issuance in the Americas to an all-time high in May, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Top U.S. banks, including Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), rushed to tap the equity market after the government's bank stress tests.

That helped send U.S. equity capital markets volume to $48.8 billion, even without $13.5 billion raised by Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which was through an at the market (ATM) offering and is excluded from the data.

It was the highest monthly volume ever in the U.S. and the largest volume in any region since June 2000.

Global equity issuance volume in secondary markets in May reached $65.9 billion, the fourth-largest ever and not far from the record of $67.2 billion set in May 2008.

Although follow-on issuances from other sectors picked up, the financial sector still accounted for about half of the total secondary equity issuance volume.