Leverage - the ratio of debt to assets - has not increased as fast as the ratio of debt to income (which implies that net worth has increased substantially) and it remains lower than in some other comparable countries, but even so it has increased noticeably. These trends show few signs, at present, of imminent change.
2  BIS Review 37/2002  It is important that there be a set of reasonable rules—so that chief executives, boards, and their auditors truly and fairly disclose the financial position of public companies—and that the investing public can rely on the truth, fairness, and completeness of that disclosure.