Bank capital requirements and risk-taking: evidence from basel III
File(s)RISK_CAPITAL_Basel III JFS_feb2024.pdf (914.97 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Anguren, Rebeca
Jiménez, Gabriel
Peydro, Jose-Luis
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We study the effects of both tighter and looser bank capital requirements on bank risk-taking. We exploit credit register data matched with firm and bank level data in conjunction with changes in capital requirements stemming from Basel III, including the introduction of a SME supporting bank capital factor in the European Union. We find that tighter capital requirements reduce the supply of bank credit to firms, while looser capital requirements mitigate the credit supply effects of increasing capital. Importantly, at the loan level (credit supply), banks more affected by capital requirements change less the supply of credit to riskier than to safer firms, and these asymmetric effects occur for both the tightening and the loosening of bank capital requirements. Finally, these effects are also important at the firm-level for total credit availability and for firm survival. Interestingly, our results suggest that those banks most impacted by the tighter Basel III capital requirements prioritize credit among ex-ante riskier firms to avoid their closure, consistent with loan evergreening.
Date Issued
2024-10
Date Acceptance
2024-06-25
Citation
Journal of Financial Stability, 2024, 74
ISSN
1572-3089
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Financial Stability
Volume
74
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2024 Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is the author’s accepted manuscript made available under a CC-BY licence in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy)
This is the author’s accepted manuscript made available under a CC-BY licence in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy)
License URL
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1572308924000779
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
101292
Date Publish Online
2024-07-14