Recent economic and market developments have had no adverse impact on levels of capital in the banking industry, with the aggregate Capital Adequacy Ratio at 19 percent as at January 2015, and above the prudential limit of 15 percent.
Second, the tightening of U.S. policy will begin only when the U.S. expansion has advanced far enough, in terms both of reducing the output gap and of moving the inflation rate closer to our 2percent goal. Thus, tightening should occur only against the backdrop of a strengthening U.S. economy and in an environment of improved household and business confidence.