4  BIS Review 117/2010    Creating global standards for liquidity.   Raising substantially the quantity, quality, consistency, and transparency of the Tier 1 capital base.   Introducing a leverage ratio as a complement to the Basel II risk-based framework.
The leverage ratio is, in effect, a safety harness that is designed to protect against risks that regulators think are low but which, in fact, are not.   Introducing a capital conservation buffer above the minimum capital requirement to ensure that banks and supervisors take prompt corrective action and that banks can absorb losses during periods of financial and economic stress.