The New Era of Capital Regulation Complexity

Abstract The paper describes the mechanism of overlapping leverage ratio requirement and macroprudential capital buffers and associated implications for the resilience of the banking sector. It examines to what extent capital buffers can be usable to absorb losses in the case of the Czech banking sector and what impact this may have on the lending capacity of the real economy. The non-usability portion of capital buffers in the Czech banking sector amounts to CZK 27 billion (i.e. 24% of the combined capital buffer). The lending potential of the capital buffer decreases by CZK 630 billion to CZK 1.6 trillion due to overlaps under otherwise equal conditions. The results indicate that the leverage ratio requirement may prevent the capital buffers from being fully effective and can reduce created macroprudential space.