A broad coalition of industry groups called on regulators to exclude client collateral when calculating the total assets of banks, arguing that it actually reduces exposure for clearing member banks. If left unchanged, the leverage ratio would reduce access to clearing and undermine one of the main goals of financial reform, the industry leaders warned in a letter to the Financial Times.
The letter, which was drafted by FIA with input from exchanges, clearinghouses, asset managers, commodity firms and other industry groups, was sent to the FT in response to an article written by Thomas Hoenig, the vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 'Weakening leverage ratio undermines banks’ accounting'.
