The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Canada's banking regulator maintained the capital cushion that the biggest banks must hold, bucking analyst and investor expectations after it increased the buffer twice in the past year, forcing lenders to hold onto billions in excess cash. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta writes that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) said Friday that it will not change the domestic stability buffer (DSB) -- a capital reserve that banks build to soften the blow of an economic downturn -- holding it at 3.5 per cent of a bank's risk-weighted assets. Since last December, the banking watchdog has boosted the requirements twice, raising it from 2.5 per cent. By abstaining from another increase, OSFI is signalling that it believes the country's largest banks have enough cash to weather an economic downturn. The buffer applies to financial institutions that are considered systemically important, including the Big Six banks. An adjustment to the DSB also prompts a change to the minimum capital levels that a bank is expected to hold. The common equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio, which measures a lender's ability to absorb losses, will remain at 11.5 per cent.