Sylwia Roszkowska

What drives heterogeneity of procyclicality of loan loss provisions in the EU

Using the two step system GMM Blundell and Bond estimator this paper documents a large cross-bank and cross-country variation in the relationship between loan loss provisions (LLP) and the business cycle and explores bank management specific, bank-activity specific and country specific (institutional and regulatory) features that explain this diversity in the European Union. Our results indicate that LLP in large, publicly traded and commercial banks, as well as in banks reporting consolidated statements, are more procyclical. Better investor protection and more restrictive bank capital regulations reduce the procyclicality of LLP. We do not find support for the view that better quality of market monitoring mitigates the sensitivity of LLP to business cycle. Our findings clearly indicate the empirical importance of income smoothing, capital management and credit risk management for decreased procyclicality of LLP.

The Effects of Capital on Bank Lending in Large EU Banks – The Role of Procyclicality, Income Smoothing, Regulations and Supervision

This paper aims to find out what the impact is of bank capital ratios on loan supply in the EU and what factors explain the potential diversity of this impact. Applying the Blundell and Bond (1998) two step GMM estimator, we show that, in the EU context, the role of capital ratio for loan growth is stronger than previous literature has found for other countries. Our study sheds some light on whether procyclicality of loan loss provisions and income smoothing with loan loss provisions contribute to procyclical impact of capital ratio on loan growth. We document that loan growth of banks that have more procyclical loan loss provisions and that engage less in income smoothing is more sensitive to capital ratios. This sensitivity is slightly increased in this sample of banks during contractions. Moreover, more restrictive regulations and more stringent official supervision reduce the magnitude of the effect of capital ratio on bank lending. Taken together, our results suggest that capital ratios are an important determinant of lending in large EU banks.

THE IMPACT OF CAPITAL RATIO ON LENDING OF EU BANKS – THE ROLE OF BANK SPECIALIZATION AND CAPITALIZATION

In this paper we aim to find out whether bank specialization and bank capitalization affect the relationship between loans growth and capital ratio, both in expansions and in contractions. We hypothesize that the impact of bank capital on lending is relatively strong in cooperative banks and savings banks. We also expect that this effect is nonlinear, and is stronger in “low” capital banks than in “high” capital banks. In order to test our hypotheses, we apply the two-step GMM robust estimator for data spanning the years 1996–2011 on individual banks available in the Bankscope database. Our analysis shows that lending of poorly capitalized banks is more affected by capital ratio than lending of well-capitalized banks. Loans growth of cooperative and savings banks is more capital constrained that lending of commercial banks. Capital matters for the lending activity in contractions only in the case of savings and “low” capital banks.

Do Regulations and Supervision Shape the Capital Crunch Effect of Large Banks in the EU

This paper extends the literature on the capital crunch effect by examining the role of public policy for the link between lending and capital in a sample of large banks operating in the European Union. Applying Blundell and Bond (1998) two-step robust GMM estimator we show that restrictions on bank activities and more stringent capital standards weaken the capital crunch effect, consistent with reduced risk taking and boosted bank charter values. Official supervision also reduces the impact of capital ratio on lending in downturns. Private oversight seems to be related to thin capital buffers in expansions, and therefore the capital crunch effect is enhanced in countries with increased market discipline. We thus provide evidence that neither regulations nor supervision at the microprudential level is neutral from a financial stability perspective. Weak regulations and supervision seem to increase the pro-cyclical effect of capital on bank lending.

Do Microprudential Regulations and Supervision Affect the Link Between Lending and Capital Ratio in Economic Downturns of Large Banks in the EU

This paper extends the literature on the capital crunch effect by examining the role of public policy for the link between lending and capital in a sample of large banks operating in the European Union during economic downturns. Applying Blundell and Bond (1998) two-step robust GMM estimator, we show that restrictions on bank activities and more stringent capital standards weaken the capital crunch effect, consistent with reduced risk-taking and boosted bank charter values. Official supervision also reduces the impact of capital ratio on lending in downturns; however, its effect is only marginally significant in the sample of unconsolidated banks. Private oversight seems to be related to thin capital buffers in expansions, and therefore the capital crunch effect is enhanced in countries with increased market discipline. We thus provide evidence that neither regulations nor supervision at the microprudential level is neutral from a financial stability perspective. Weak regulations and supervision seem to increase the pro-cyclical effect of capital on bank lending.

Do Macroprudential Policy Instruments Affect the Link between Lending and Capital Ratio? – Cross-Country Evidence

In this paper we ask about the capacity of macroprudential policies to reduce the positive association between loans growth and the capital ratio. We focus on aggregated macroprudential policy measures and on individual instruments and test whether their effect on the association between lending and capital depends on bank size, the economic development of a country as well as on the extent of capital account openness. Applying the GMM 2-step Blundell and Bond approach to a sample covering over 60 countries, we find that macroprudential policy instruments reduce the impact of capital on bank lending during both crisis and non-crisis times. This result is stronger in large banks than in other banks. Of individual macroprudential instruments, only borrower-targeted LTV caps and DTI ratio weaken the association between lending and capital. Our results also show that the effect of macroprudential policies on the association between lending and the capital ratio in non-crisis periods is stronger in advanced countries than in emerging countries. Additionally, differentiating by the level of capital account openness, we find that macroprudential policies are more effective in increasing the resilience of banks and thus weakening the association between loan supply and capital ratio for relatively closed economies but less effective for relatively open economies. Generally, with our study we are able to support the view that macroprudential policy has the potential to curb the procyclical impact of bank capital on lending and therefore, the introduction of more restrictive international capital standards included in Basel III and of macroprudential policies are fully justified.

The Impact of Capital on Lending in Economic Downturns and Investor Protection – The Case of Large EU Banks

This paper attempts to find out whether better quality of investor protection matters for the effect of capital ratio on loan growth of large EU banks in 1996-2011. We focus on several measures of the quality of investor protection with a proven track record in the banking literature, i.e.: anti-self-dealing index, ex-antecontrol and ex-post-control of anti-self-dealing indices, and creditor protection rights index. Our results show that better investor protection increases the procyclical impact of capital on lending in the sample of banks reporting unconsolidated data. This is consistent with the view that better shareholders rights protection induces bank borrowers to take more loans and to engage in more risk-taking, in particular during economic booms, which results in greater sensitivity of bank lending to capital ratios in economic downturns. The opposite effect is found in the sample of banks reporting consolidated data. This effect is consistent with the view that better minority shareholders protection may reduce risk-taking incentives of large banks and result in better risk management of credit portfolio (and other investments of such banks).