Banking Supervision, Monetary Policy and Risk-Taking


Book Description

We analyse the effects of supranational versus national banking supervision on credit supply, and its interactions with monetary policy. For identification, we exploit: (i) a new, proprietary dataset based on 15 European credit registers; (ii) the institutional change leading to the centralisation of European banking supervision; (iii) high-frequency monetary policy surprises; (iv) differences across euro area countries, also vis-à-vis non-euro area countries. We show that supranational supervision reduces credit supply to firms with very high ex-ante and ex-post credit risk, while stimulating credit supply to firms without loan delinquencies. Moreover, the increased risk-sensitivity of credit supply driven by centralised supervision is stronger for banks operating in stressed countries. Exploiting heterogeneity across banks, we find that the mechanism driving the results is higher quantity and quality of human resources available to the supranational supervisor rather than changes in incentives due to the reallocation of supervisory responsibility to the new institution. Finally, there are crucial complementarities between supervision and monetary policy: centralised supervision offsets excessive bank risk-taking induced by a more accommodative monetary policy stance, but does not offset more productive risk-taking. Overall, we show that using multiple credit registers - first time in the literature - is crucial for external validity.




Bank Leverage and Monetary Policy's Risk-Taking Channel


Book Description

We present evidence of a risk-taking channel of monetary policy for the U.S. banking system. We use confidential data on the internal ratings of U.S. banks on loans to businesses over the period 1997 to 2011 from the Federal Reserve’s survey of terms of business lending. We find that ex-ante risk taking by banks (as measured by the risk rating of the bank’s loan portfolio) is negatively associated with increases in short-term policy interest rates. This relationship is less pronounced for banks with relatively low capital or during periods when banks’ capital erodes, such as episodes of financial and economic distress. These results contribute to the ongoing debate on the role of monetary policy in financial stability and suggest that monetary policy has a bearing on the riskiness of banks and financial stability more generally.




Banking and Monetary Policies in a Changing Financial Environment


Book Description

The 21st century witnessed major changes in the financial environment surrounding bank regulators and banks. Banking and Monetary Policies in a Changing Financial Environment delves into three of these developments and challenges. The first change in the financial environment relates to the rise in the number and sophistication of financial and economic crimes which shaped the international regulatory architecture. New rules and regulations led to the creation of new strategies to combat these crimes, especially those concerning the spread of more advanced money laundering methods and techniques, terrorist financing after the 9/11 attacks, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The second development concerns the global financial crisis of 2008 which drastically affected the regulatory environment of various international and domestic financial authorities causing major changes in bank lending and corporate governance policies, and in the development of the Basel III accord on capital adequacy for bank supervision. The third development manifests itself in the creation of a major European monetary union without a fiscal union and a giant European central bank impacting the conduct of monetary policy. This book combines theory, policy, regulation and institutional approaches with empirical testing, analyzing applications and case studies of various international regulatory authorities and administrations, countries and jurisdictions, central banks and commercial banks. This volume is suitable for those who study international finance, Banking and white collar crime.







Monetary Policy, Leverage, and Bank Risk Taking


Book Description

We provide a theoretical foundation for the claim that prolonged periods of easy monetary conditions increase bank risk taking. The net effect of a monetary policy change on bank monitoring (an inverse measure of risk taking) depends on the balance of three forces: interest rate pass-through, risk shifting, and leverage. When banks can adjust their capital structures, a monetary easing leads to greater leverage and lower monitoring. However, if a bank's capital structure is fixed, the balance depends on the degree of bank capitalization: when facing a policy rate cut, well capitalized banks decrease monitoring, while highly levered banks increase it. Further, the balance of these effects depends on the structure and contestability of the banking industry, and is therefore likely to vary across countries and over time.







Prudential Supervision


Book Description

Since banking systems play a crucial role in maintaining the overall health of the economy, the adverse effects of poorly supervised systems may be quite severe. Without some form of vigilant external oversight, banking systems could fall prey to excessive risk taking, moral hazard, and corruption. Prudential supervision provides that oversight, using government regulation and monitoring to ensure the soundness of the banking system and, by extension, the economy at large. The contributors to this thoughtful volume examine the current state of prudential supervision, focusing on fundamental issues and key pragmatic concerns. Why is prudential supervision so important? What kinds of excess must it guard against? What particular forms does it take? Which of these are the most effective deterrents against mismanagement and system overload in today's rapidly shifting financial climate? The contributors foresee a continued movement beyond simple regulatory rules in banking and toward a more active evaluation and supervision of a bank's risk management practices.




Banking Soundness and Monetary Policy


Book Description

Banking sector problems have affected many IMF member countries, and measures to remedy these problems as well as to prevent their recurrence deeply concern central bankers and policymakers. the papers and comments published in this volume and edited by Charles Enoch and John H. Green were presented at the Seventh Seminar on Central Banking sponsored by the IMF. The topics discussed include banking soundness and the macroeconomy, prudential standards, the role of the central bank during problems of banking soundness, and bank restructuring.




Should Increased Regulation of Bank Risk-Taking Come from Regulators Or from the Market?


Book Description

The heavy losses in bank asset portfolios do not reflect an inherent failure of markets to monitor risk adequately but rather the perverse incentives of the financial safety net to excessive risk-taking. The unsustainable rise in house prices and their subsequent sharp decline derived from the combination of a public policy to expand home ownership to unrealistic levels and from a financial safety net that encouraged excessive risk-taking by banks. Charts and tables.




The Origins, History, and Future of the Federal Reserve


Book Description

This book contains essays presented at a conference held in November 2010 to mark the centenary of the famous 1910 Jekyll Island meeting of leading American financiers and the US Treasury. The 1910 meeting resulted in the Aldrich Plan, a precursor to the Federal Reserve Act that was enacted by Congress in 1913. The 2010 conference, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Rutgers University, featured assessments of the Fed's near 100-year track record by prominent economic historians and macroeconomists. The final chapter of the book records a panel discussion of Fed policy making by the current and former senior Federal Reserve officials.