Glossary

Updated 1 April 2019

This glossary offers definitions of technical terms commonly used in the BIS Quarterly Review.

The glossary is also available as a PDF file in ChineseFrench, German, Italian and Spanish. Last update in April 2019.

countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB)

The countercyclical capital buffer aims to ensure that capital requirements take account of the macro-financial environment in which banks operate. Its primary objective is to use a buffer of capital to achieve the broader macroprudential goal of protecting the banking sector from periods of excess aggregate credit growth that have often been associated with the build-up of system-wide risk. Under the Basel III supervisory framework, it is calculated as the weighted average of the buffers in effect in the jurisdictions to which banks have a credit exposure.

Updated: 11 Dec 2016
countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB)

The countercyclical capital buffer aims to ensure that capital requirements take account of the macro-financial environment in which banks operate. Its primary objective is to use a buffer of capital to achieve the broader macroprudential goal of protecting the banking sector from periods of excess aggregate credit growth that have often been associated with the build-up of system-wide risk. Under the Basel III supervisory framework, it is calculated as the weighted average of the buffers in effect in the jurisdictions to which banks have a credit exposure.

Updated: 11 Dec 2016