Editor's Note: Katia D'Hulster is a senior financial sector specialist in the Financial Systems Department of the World Bank. She is the author of a recently-released policy note on the benefits of a non-risk-based capital measure, the leverage ratio, as an additional prudential tool to complement minimum capital adequacy requirements.
This is the 11th in a series of policy briefs on the crisis—assessing the policy responses, shedding light on financial reforms currently under debate, and providing insights for emerging-market policy makers.
Excessive leverage by banks is widely believed to have contributed to the global financial crisis. To address this, the international community has proposed the adoption of a non-risk-based capital measure, the leverage ratio, as an additional prudential tool to complement minimum capital adequacy requirements. Its adoption can reduce the risk of excessive leverage building up in individual entities and in the financial system as a whole. The leverage ratio has inherent limitations, however, and should therefore be considered as just one of a set of macro- and micro-prudential policy tools.
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