In November 2008, just a few weeks after Lehman Brothers failed, the leaders of the G20 met in Washington D.C. In their meeting they took far-reaching decisions – not only to combat the current crisis but also to prevent future crises.
Between 2008 and 2011, US banks improved their leverage ratio6 by 1.6 percentage points from 7.2 to 8.8%. The response in the euro area was more sluggish.