We investigate the impact of changes in capital of European banks on their risk-taking behavior from 1992 to 2006, a time period covering the Basel I capital requirements. We specifically focus on the initial level and type of regulatory capital banks hold. First, we assume that risk changes...

This paper analyses the implications of bank equity investment in firms on the stability of the banking system under conditions of asymmetric information and moral hazard. We show that there exists a « U-shaped » relationship between the risk of the universal and the investment banks?' asset...

The literature on bank provisioning behaviour shows that changes in loan loss provisions are counter-cyclical. Based on this stylised fact, this paper develops a partial equilibrium model of a banking firm that analyzes how provisioning rules influence credit market fluctuations. The model and...

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact on bank stock prices of the Asian and Russian financial crises for a sample of European banks. This issue is of importance regarding financial fragility and contagion effects within the banking industry. We develop an event study methodology based...

A panel of 186 European banks is used for the period 1992-2004 to determine if banking behaviors induced by the capital adequacy constraint and the provisioning system, amplify credit fluctuations. Our finding is consistent with the bank capital channel hypothesis, which means that poorly...

This study examines the stock market valuation in terms of expected gains of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) amongst banks that were announced from 1991 to 2001 in 13 European markets. M&As are classified according to activity, geographic specialization or diversification. A bivariate GARCH...

A panel of 186 European banks is used for the period 1992-2004 to determine if banking behaviors, induced by the capital adequacy constraint and the provisioning system, amplify credit fluctuations. We find that poorly capitalized banks are constrained to expand credit. We also find that loan...

Potential new entrants to the European Union from Central and Eastern European countries face many challenges to achieve financial convergence with the existing EU nations. Using detailed case studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and analysis of cross country...

We investigate whether excess control rights of ultimate owners in pyramids affect banks׳ capital ratio adjustments. When control and cash flow rights are identical, to boost capital ratios banks issue equity without cutting lending. However, when control rights exceed cash flow rights, instead...