Bank Risk Factors and Changing Risk Exposures in the Pre- and Post-financial Crisis Periods: An Empirical Study for India

Abstract

In this study, we measure and analyse the time-varying nature of risk exposures for the Indian banking industry using weekly bank-level data from 23 October 2004 to 1 August 2014. We extend the literature by studying credit, equity, interest rate and exchange rate risks following a more comprehensive framework. The study finds evidence that the risk exposures are time varying in nature and differ across banks with different characteristics. Equity risk and credit risk increase post the global financial crisis (GFC) while interest rate and exchange rate risk gets reduced. The capital market has a favourable view of small-sized, well-capitalized, well-diversified private sector banks. Furthermore, the results also show that asset size and ownership structure offer relevant information for differentiating banks regarding their riskiness. Large banks have more equity risk exposure; public sector banks have higher credit risks while private sector banks have greater interest rates and exchange rate risk exposure. The study offers valuable insights for the regulators, supervisors, policymakers, banking industry, bank managers, investors and academia. The main contribution is a better understanding of sources of banks’ risks and needs to enhance the supervisory process in the Basel framework.