On September 20, 2016, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation released the semi-annual report of the Global Capital Index. In a concurrent statement, Vice-Chairman Thomas M. Hoenig noted that while Global Systemically Important Banks did increase their equity capital, a beyond-proportionate increase in assets led to a net increase in the overall leverage of G-SIBs. Vice-Chairman Hoenig also noted that asset quality in Europe remains an issue in comparison to the United States, with more than three times as many non-performing loans, and that better-capitalized banks trade at a premium when compared to banks with weaker capital positions. Vice-Chairman Hoenig noted that, while banks are better capitalized now, with average leverage ratios of around 5%, such ratio remains inadequate should banks have to withstand losses similar to the last financial crisis.
The text of Vice-Chairman Hoenig's statement is available at: https://www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/spsep2016.html .
The Global Capital Index is available at: https://www.fdic.gov/about/learn/board/hoenig/capitalizationratio2q16.pdf .
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