A U.S. bank regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), has approved final rules that ease leverage requirements for major banks. These rules, known as the “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio,” will require financial firms to set aside less capital as a cushion against losses on low-risk assets, such as U.S. government debt.

The move, expected to be mirrored by other regulators, represents one of the first steps in the current administration’s push to relax post-2008 financial crisis safeguards to stimulate economic growth and lending. Proponents argue that the previous strict leverage requirements, which required capital reserves regardless of asset risk, were overly onerous and deterred banks from facilitating Treasury market trading.

The FDIC estimated the new rules would reduce capital requirements for large global banks by approximately $13 billion overall, with the depository subsidiaries of those banks seeing a significant average reduction of 27%. While officials state that banks cannot use the freed capital for shareholder payouts due to separate holding-company constraints, critics argue that easing safeguards increases systemic risk. Banks must comply by April 1st, 2026. The FDIC also proposed lowering the community bank leverage ratio for smaller banks (with assets under $10 billion) from 9% to 8%.

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-bank-regulator-approves-relaxed-leverage-rules-2025-11-25/