Recapitalization, credit and liquidity

Abstract

This paper documents the characteristics of public recapitalizations of banks undertaken since 2008 and examines their relationship with bank lending. The analysis covers the 15 OECD countries whose banking sectors were most severely hit by the crisis and that provided the largest public bailouts relative to their national gross domestic product (GDP). We show that the design of the interventions varied considerably across banks and countries. Larger and higher loss-absorbing capital injections were targeted at weaker banks and at banks of ‘systemically relevant’ size, when the state of public finances allowed. Our results encourage theoretical research with respect to non-linear and potentially adverse effects of bailouts, as well as further investigation into the link between the loss absorbing properties of bank capital and loan growth. With respect to bank lending, we find that only large recapitalizations and infusions of common equity are associated with higher total regulatory capital ratios and sustained loan growth. We find no significant relationship between public capital provisions and interbank lending and challenge the view that local banks increase loan growth relatively more in response to a recapitalization. — Mike Mariathasan and Ouarda Merrouche