The effect of deregulation on bank risk-taking in China: a balance sheet capacity perspective

With the rapid growth of new technologies such as big data, digital technology is increasingly permeating our daily lives. Financial institutions, particularly commercial banks, are also seizing opportunities in the wave of digital financial development to provide better financial services. However, this development in digital finance has affected the credit structure and risk-taking of banks. This study aims to empirically analyze the impact of digital finance development on the credit structure and risk-taking of commercial banks. Additionally, the study seeks to discuss how the combined effects of digital finance and credit structure influence bank risk-taking. Empirical analysis is conducted using financial data from commercial banks over the past decade. The analytical methods include collecting secondary data, statistical data processing, and regression analysis to evaluate the relationships between digital finance development, credit structure, and bank risk-taking. The empirical analysis results show that the development of digital finance has promoted an increase in the scale of bank credit and the ratio of personal loans to credit loans. Integrating digital finance with banks has proven to reduce the risk burden banks bear. Furthermore, as digital finance continues to develop, adjustments in the bank's credit structure also affect the risk burden borne by the banks. Based on these findings, it is recommended that commercial banks continue to adopt digital financial technologies to increase their credit scale and optimize their credit structure. Additionally, banks should consider developing policies that support integrating digital technologies to reduce risk burdens and enhance financial stability. Further research is also suggested to explore the long-term impact of digital finance on the overall financial performance and risk of banks

On the basis of the unbalanced panel financial data of Chinese commercial banks from 2007–2021, this paper first conducts an identification test of the bank risk-taking channel for China’s monetary policy transmission. Then, it tests the impact of bank microcharacteristics and macroeconomic fluctuations on bank risk-taking in monetary policy transmission. The empirical results reveal the presence of the risk-taking channel for China’s monetary policy transmission. China’s bank risk-taking in monetary policy transmission is asymmetric because of the heterogeneity of bank microcharacteristics and macroeconomic fluctuations; i.e., the larger the asset size is, the greater the capital adequacy ratio is, the greater the return on net assets is, the greater the risk-taking level is, and the lower the risk-taking level of banks with poorer liquidity and higher branch coverage is. The impact of macroeconomic fluctuations is reflected in the fact that the higher the economic growth rate is, the greater the risk-taking level of banks. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the transparency of monetary policy, strengthen the supervision of commercial banks, stabilize the macroeconomic environment, match the risk-taking level of banks with monetary credit and economic growth, and improve the effect of monetary policy transmission.

The analysis of the relationship between bank competition and financial stability remains a controversial issue and widely discussed in the academic and political community. Using a sample of 117 listed banks in 16 European countries for the years 2011 to 2018, the article explores the impact of market power, measured by the Lerner index, on the bank stability, measured by distance-to-default and Z score. Our results show that for the overall sample, higher market power in banking decreases the risky behavior of banks, confirming the “competition-fragility” view. We do not find any support for a U-shaped relationship between competition and bank risk-taking. However, our findings differ from previous studies pointing out that the relationship between bank competition and risk-taking is differentiated depending on whether the bank is based in a country with a more stable banking system or a less stable one. In countries with a less financially stable banking system, increased competition leads to increased bank risk-taking. In countries with a more stable banking system, market power seems not to influence banks’ financial stability. Public policies must guarantee banking competition but limiting excessive bank risk-taking, especially in countries with less financially sound banking systems. The consolidation of European banking can be a key element for achieving these policies.

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical studies on the way that capital requirements influences bank capital structure, risk-taking and lending. Deposit insurance, when not fairly priced, give incentives for excessive risk-taking. To alleviate this problem regulator found as necessary the use of certain requirements such as capital requirement. Based on this, it is obligatory for banks to hold more capital that means to have more of their own funds at risk. The theoretical literature related to the way how capital regulation influences banks on their decision for the capital structure and portfolio risk says more than that. Capital requirements were supposed to enhance financial stability and economic growth. Regarding economic growth, the effects of capital requirements can influence it directly or indirectly. Changes that capital requirements bring to the credit supply, costs of capital and to the bank asset risks affect indirectly the economic growth. Higher capital requirements reduce credit supply and decreases credit demand which in turn may slow down economic growth. Nevertheless, well-capitalized banks make provision of credit more consistent and enhance financial stability. Suggestions given from the theoretical literature and lessons learned from empirical researches are going to be used in analyzing effects of bank capital requirements on the relation between efficiency, capital and risk-taking in Albanian banking system DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n1p340

The new prudential regulation framework, established by the European Central Bank (ECB) after the financial crisis encompasses supervisory procedures to measure and monitor bank business models, capital requirements, governance arrangements and liquidity risk. However, research on financial stability has revealed that, during financial crises, it would have been essential to monitor the vulnerability of banks by also assessing the value of their intangible assets. We contribute to the extant literature by examining the impact of a specific intangible asset—namely, managerial ability—on bank risk-taking. Given the interest of the regulatory authority in monitoring financial stability, we quantify management ability and document its double effects on bank risk-taking: the indirect effect through franchise value and its direct effect. We examine a sample of listed banks from 15 EU countries over the period 1997–2016. We find that higher managerial ability is associated with higher franchise value, contributing to a decrease in bank risk-taking (indirect effect), particularly for small banks and during financial crisis. Moreover, managerial ability reduces bank risk-taking through its direct effect. Our evidence suggests that managerial ability could be considered a measure (easily estimated) for regulating the disciplinary role of franchise value and, used in combination with current regulatory measures, could lead to supervisors achieving more effective management oversight.

Market Reforms, Legal Changes and Bank Risk-Taking – Evidence from Transition Economies

The study investigates the moderation effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) towards the relationship between excess liquidity and bank risk-taking as well as explores its stronger impact in countries severely affected by the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Using System Generalized Methods of Moments (SGMM) on an unbalanced dataset for 33 countries from 2000 to 2019, the study finds that an increase in the EPU index attenuates the positive impact of excess liquidity on bank risk-taking. The study also finds that the attenuating effect of EPU on the relationship between excess liquidity and bank risk-taking is stronger in countries that were most severely affected by the GFC. It argues that the mechanisms by which excess liquidity induces risk-taking are disrupted under high EPU. Our study also extends behavioral theories to shed light on how the GFC altered bank risk-taking in the presence of excess liquidity and high EPU.This study examines the influence of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the relationship between excess liquidity and bank risk-taking, particularly in countries that were severely impacted by the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Utilizing the System Generalized Method of Moments on data from 33 countries, the research indicates that elevated levels of EPU dampen the risk-taking incentives typically associated with excess liquidity. Remarkably, this moderating effect of EPU is more pronounced in nations significantly affected by the GFC, suggesting that historical crises shape current banking behaviourin the face of economic uncertainty. The study enhances the Excess Liquidity Theory by incorporating behaviouralinsights from Prospect Theory, illustrating that economic uncertainty can function as a stabilizing force against liquidity-driven risk. These findings highlight the urgent need for policymakers to customize financial stability measures, particularly in managing liquidity levels and timing policy actions during times of heightened uncertainty. Ultimately, this research offers valuable insights into how regulatory strategies can utilize economic policy uncertainty to promote prudent banking practices, fostering stability in an increasingly volatile global financial environment.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between gender diversity and the risk profile of 141 listed banks from 14 emerging countries over the period of 2012–2020. Specifically, this study investigates whether the relationship between gender diversity and banking risk varies between Islamic banks and conventional banks, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second aim is to investigate whether COVID-19 health crisis moderates the effect of gender diversity on banks’ risk-taking behavior within a dual banking system. Design/methodology/approach This study derives its theoretical foundation from both the token theory and the critical mass theory. Both fixed and random effects are combined to examine the relationship between gender diversity and bank risk-taking in emerging countries. Findings The results show that female presence on the board of directors reduces banks' financial risk. However, the presence of women continues to positively affect the capital adequacy ratio of large banks. The results also show that the presence of at least two female directors significantly reduces banking risk. The findings support the expectations of the token and critical mass theories. In addition, the presence of female board members, per se, does not influence the risk-taking behavior of Islamic banks. Finally, this study demonstrates that the moderating role of the COVID-19 health crisis is only more effective for large banks than for small ones. The analyses demonstrate good reliability and robustness of the findings of this study. Practical implications The study provides novel insights for policymakers and practitioners on how female directors impact banks’ risk-taking behavior in dual-banking countries. It also contributes to the debate on gender diversity and corporate governance literature, which can help in monitoring bank risk-taking and improving financial stability. Originality/value This study presents new evidence about the importance of board gender diversity for bank risk-taking in a dual banking system by considering the moderating influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also contributes to the literature on bank risk-taking by applying two measures of gender diversity and a critical mass of women on boards.

This paper constructs a theoretical model to analyze the effect of macroprudential policies (MPPs) on bank risk-taking. We collect a data set of 231 commercial banks in China to empirically test whether macroprudential tools, including countercyclical capital buffers, reserve requirements, and caps on loan-to-value, can affect bank risk-taking behaviors by using the dynamic unbalanced panel system generalized method of moment (SYS-GMM). The results provide further evidence on the important role of MPPs in maintaining financial stability, which helps mitigate financial system vulnerabilities. Bank risk-taking will be decreased with the strengthening of macroprudential supervision, which greatly benefits the resilience and the sustainability of bank sector. Moreover, the credit cycle has a magnifying role on MPPs’ effect on bank risk-taking. Reducing risks in bank loans requires a further slowing of credit growth, which is necessary to ensure sustainable growth in a bank system, or more ambitiously, to smooth financial booms and busts. The results survive robustness checks under alternative estimation methods and alternative proxies of bank risk-taking and MPPs.

In this paper, we examine the impact of trade openness on bank risk-taking behavior employing a panel dataset of 899 banks from the BRICS (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries over the period 2000–2017. We find that higher trade openness lowers bank risk-taking. Our results are robust when we use alternative proxies of trade openness and bank risk-taking, estimate country-wise regressions, or use alternative estimation methods such as system Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM), fixed effects, pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS), and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) models. We also observe higher trade openness decreases bank risk-taking in both the short and long run. Moreover, banks in more open countries perform relatively better during the crisis period further signifying the diversification benefits of openness. Together, our findings imply the beneficial impact of trade openness for financial sector stability.

As China's opening up continues to improve, the capital market has developed a pipeline-style opening, which gradually increased the proportion of foreign investors and correspondingly enlarged the scale of cross-border capital flows. However, the increasing scale and volatility of cross-border capital flows may cause cross-border contagion of financial risks and affect bank risk-taking. To examine the relationship between cross-border capital flows and bank risk-taking, this study examines the impact of cross-border capital flows on commercial banks' risk-taking in China, using data from 38 banks over 2016-2022. Empirical results reveal that increased capital flows significantly heighten banks' risk-taking. Besides that, the impact of cross-border capital flows on bank risk-taking is heterogeneous. The risk-taking level affected by cross-border capital flows of city and rural commercial banks has increased much higher than that of state-owned banks and joint-stock banks. These findings underscore the need for targeted macro-prudential policies to manage financial stability amidst expanding capital flows.

This study assesses the impact(s) of monetary policy and further influence of competitiveness on bank risk-taking of the Vietnamese commercial banks over the period of 2007–2016, an unstable period of the domestic monetary policy. The monetary policy is captured by a set of different variables including money supply, refinancing interest rate and treasury bill interest rate. Using the GMM methodology, the study finds that the monetary policy of Vietnam has a significant impact on bank risk-taking level, as measured by Z-score index. The empirical findings also indicate that bank risk-taking increases in the context of a loose monetary policy. In addition, the competitiveness of banks, presented by the Lerner index, is found as a determinant of bank risk-taking levels. By using interacting variables, the findings indicate that the impact of the competitiveness of banks outweighs that of monetary policy on bank risk-taking behaviour. It implies that the banks with high market power demonstrate less risk-taking behaviour even in a loose monetary policy environment. Besides that, liquidity, credit level and cost inefficiency could increase risk-taking behaviour of banks while bank size poses restrictions on bank risk-taking.

This article investigates whether qualitative information provided by banks about risk appetite (RA) sheds substantive insight on their effective risk taking (RT) and whether this latter in turn affects RA disclosure, as well as the role played by specific types of banks' reports (i.e., integrated report, annual report, Pillar 3 report) on such relations. Using a sample of 134 reports representing 52 banks, a generalized structural equation model is applied. The article hypothesizes and empirically finds a reciprocal relation between RA disclosure and banks' RT. More specifically, in line with agency theory, the analysis displays a predominance of the inverse relation according to which banks showing higher RT provide greater disclosure. In addition, RT is found to play a mediator role between the adoption of a specific type of report-the integrated report-and RA disclosure, independently of the context in which the banks operate. Results also highlight that RT in banks adopting an integrated report is lower than the one of matched banks. Overall, this study extends risk science by complementing the literature stream on banks' accounting discretion and risk disclosure, supporting the impact of market discipline in promoting new forms of corporate reporting. Results indeed emphasize the key role of integrated reporting on RT, suggesting that integrated logic should be strengthened by policy makers to curb banks' excessive RT and leading them to provide substantive disclosure.

Financial liberalization and bank risk-taking: International evidence

We analyze the role of credit markets in explaining the changes in the U.S. labor share by evaluating the effects of state-level banking deregulation, which resulted in improved access to cheaper credit. Utilizing a difference-in-differences strategy, we provide causal evidence showing labor share declined following the interstate banking deregulation. We show that the lower cost of credit, increase in the availability of credit, and greater bank competition in each state are mechanisms that led to the decline in the labor share. We use this evidence to obtain the elasticity of labor share with respect to borrowing costs, which itself is informative about the aggregate elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. Finally, we focus on manufacturing and services to show that the impact of banking deregulation is particularly important in capital intensive and external finance dependent industries.