Some eurozone banks have thin leverage capital buffers

Surplus capital amounts in excess of those needed to meet the leverage ratio vary dramatically across large eurozone banks, Risk Quantum analysis shows.

Across a sample of 17 eurozone banks with leverage exposures above €200 billion ($223 billion), the median ratio of actual Tier 1 capital to the minimum required to meet the Basel-mandated 3% leverage ratio was 165.5% as of the second quarter.

But a handful of banks had leverage capital buffers much thinner than this. Deutsche Bank’s ratio of