See: Tier 1 Capital.
It isn't what you have. It's what you have in relation to everything else. Someone with $1 million in debt might sound like they're in trouble...until you learn that they're an NBA player earning $30 million a year. Not really a big deal.
To get a good read on things, you need to know the ratios. Banks need a good amount of tier 1 capital. The term refers to the top-shelf financial instruments that allow a bank to weather difficult times. However, it's not the amount of tier 1 capital that's important. It's the ratio.
The tier 1 capital ratio measures the amount of tier 1 capital the company has versus the amount of total risk-weighted assets it holds. The ratio answers the question, "How much of the bank's assets can be rated as tier 1?"
Regulators put the minimum level of the tier 1 capital ratio at 6%. The higher the better, in terms of the bank's ability to absorb bad market events.
