Cypriot banks overleveraged, says ECB
Banks in Belgium, Cyprus and Germany are among the most leveraged in the euro area and probably need to increase their equity as a share of assets, the European Central Bank said on Monday.
Banks in Cyprus were most leveraged on average, with equity amounting to 3 percent of assets at the end of 2012, while lenders in Estonia were least leveraged with a ratio of 13.3 percent, the Frankfurt-based ECB said in a report published on its website.
That dispersion suggests some banks “need to make further progress,” according to the ECB.
[Bloomberg]
