Assessing potential impacts from lower leverage requirements in Europe

Research evidence excerpt

Assessing potential impacts from lower leverage requirements in Europe

Equity Research

14 July 2026 | 10:19PM BST

EUROPE BANKS

Assessing potential impacts from lower leverage requirements in

Europe

In short: Press reports (link) indicate the European Commission is set to propose Chris Hallam

+44(20)7552-2958 |

lowering leverage ratio requirements for certain European banks via the removal chris.hallam@gs.com

Goldman Sachs International

of Pillar 2 capital requirements related to the leverage ratio. These Pillar 2 leverage

Sofie Peterzensrequirements are not applicable to all banks, but currently contribute 10bps to the +44(20)7051-5283 |

requirement for BNP, ING, Deutsche Bank, SocGen, Commerzbank and KBC (among sofie.peterzens@gs.comGoldman Sachs International

listed European banks under GS coverage). Removing this would free up c.€8bn in Benjamin Caven-Roberts

Tier 1 capital across these lenders, or c.€180bn in balance sheet capacity on a +44(20)7552-7066roberts@gs.com | benjamin.d.caven-

leverage basis. However, we note that out of these lenders, only BNP and SocGen Goldman Sachs International

Kour Sasoncurrently screen as leverage constrained (assuming no additional AT1 issuance), Andin +1(332)245-7825 | andin.kour@gs.com

meaning the direct impact of the proposed change may be more limited. Goldman Sachs India SPL

Irrespectively, lower leverage requirements should prove incrementally supportive Sachin Nayar

+44(20)7051-2598 |

for bank activities which are RWA-light but leverage-intense (e.g. holding high quality sachin.x.nayar@gs.com

government bonds on balance sheets). The proposed changes would form part of a

Khushboo Mandani

broader report due to be released this Friday 17 July, which includes the scope of +1(332)245-7978 |