Using hand collected Level 3 data, we find that banks near key capital ratios report higher unrealized gains in Level 3 assets, consistent with managers using unrealized gains in earnings from Level 3 valuations to boost capital ratios. Additionally, we document an incremental pricing discount...

Prior research shows that managers use discretion in estimating Level 3 financial instruments to opportunistically manage capital and earnings. We investigate an earlier decision, subsequent classification changes that result in net transfers into the Level 3 classification, to examine whether...