Saturday, August 24, 2013

Basel's "Leverage Ratio" expressed as Debt to Equity Ratios (D/E)

Below what leverage ratios (LR) of x percent, in Basel terminology, approximately mean, in terms of normal traditional debt to equity (D/E) ratios, those usually applied to all other economic organizations.

LR of 2 percent = D/E of 49/1
LR of 3 percent = D/E of 32/1
LR of 4 percent = D/E of 24/1
LR of 5 percent = D/E of 19/1
LR of 6 percent = D/E of 16/1
LR of 7 percent = D/E of 13/1
LR of 8 percent = D/E of 11/1
LR of 9 percent = D/E of 10/1
LR of 10 percent = D/E of 9/1

My recommendation: Throw away all risk-weighting and adopt a leverage ratio of from 6 to 9 percent, which should fluctuate in an economic counter-cyclical way.