, Columnist
There’s Nothing Wrong With Stronger Banks
A decade of data suggest that higher capital doesn’t impair lending.
More fragile than they look.
Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Must a safer banking system inevitably be less dynamic? Judging from the experience of the U.S. and Europe since the 2008 financial crisis, not necessarily.
Bank executives typically portray efforts to shore up the financial system as a trade-off, in which greater resilience means less of something good. They often warn, for example, that requirements to increase capital buffers will starve the economy of much-needed credit.