3  The introduction of capital requirements for counterparty risk exposures arising from derivatives and securities financing activities is being proposed, as are incentives for the central clearing of over-the-counter derivatives. These measures complement the higher capital charges for trading book exposures and securitisations that were adopted in July 2009.
4  The leverage ratio, covering also off-balance sheets items, is envisaged to act as a backstop measure to curb excessive balance sheet growth. 5  The ECB is a key contributor to the top-down macroeconomic impact, focusing on the euro area.