Based on publicly available data we propose a simple taxonomy of the banks under the direct supervision of the ECB, taking into account their core business, size, and degree of internationalization. We compare the structures of the balance sheet and income statement of the eight different types...

This paper presents a model of bank risk taking and government guarantees. Levered banks take excessive risk, as their actions are not fully priced at the margin by debt holders. The impact of government guarantees on bank risk taking depends critically on the portion of bank investors that can...

The ongoing global financial crisis is rooted in a combination of factors common to previous financial crises and some new factors. The crisis has brought to light a number of deficiencies in financial regulation and architecture, particularly in the treatment of systemically important financial...