This paper evaluates the impact of the March 2020 European Central Bank recommendation that banks do not pay dividends or buy back shares on their market values. It documents a causal negative impact on bank share prices of around 7% during the two weeks following its announcement. The...

As part of a broader policy agenda promoting more sustainable financial markets, legislative and policy initiatives within the European Union in recent years have explored the activation of micro-prudential requirements for banks and other financial intermediaries with a view to incentivise...

The aim of the study was to determine the impact of increased capital adequacy standards of second-tier banks on their performance. The study is based on second-tier banks of EU member states, as these countries are the first to implement the Basel Committee recommendations, so their experience...

This paper examines capital adequacy regulation in Germany. After a short overview about financial regulation in Germany in general, the paper focuses on the most important development in the area of capital adequacy regulation from the 1930s up to the financial crisis. Two main trends are...

This article describes the background, design choices and particular details of stress tests used as part of an overall supervisory regime; that is, their formal integration into the process of the ongoing prudential supervision of banks and other large financial institutions. We then describe...

The role that banks play in screening and monitoring their borrowers is well understood. However, these bank activities are costly and unobservable, thus difficult to contract upon. This introduces the possibility of shirking and leads to the question – who monitors the monitor? Financial...