Investment banks with leverage of more than 30 times their capital in early 2007 are now down to little more than ten times. Trading volumes are down, as is bank lending, and there have been major layoffs in financial centers around the globe.
但在过去的两年间，情况发生了变化。许多金融公司的资产负债表出现了戏剧性的缩水，当然还有一些公司干脆关门大吉。金融杠杆大幅降低，在2007年早期，投资银行的杠杆超过其资本三十倍有余，现在则下降到十倍刚出头的水平。交易量与银行信贷量一并萎缩，全球各地的金融中心都进行了大规模的裁员。