The effect of capital adequacy guidelines on large bank holding companies

The United States federal bank regulators imposed numerical capital guidelines in 1981. If these guidelines are binding on bank holding companies, then theoretical evidence suggests that banking organizations may be increasing asset risk. This study tests empirically the hypothesis that the guidelines are binding. Two models of changes in bank holding company equity capital to assets ratios are developed and tested using maximum likehood estimation: a regulatory model and a market model. The results indicate that most large bank holding companies are influenced by regulatory forces.     

Bank board structure and performance: Evidence for large bank holding companies

The subprime crisis highlights how little we know about bank governance. This paper addresses a long-standing gap in the literature by analyzing the relationship between board governance and performance using a sample of banking firm data that spans 34 years. We find that board independence is not related to performance, as measured by a proxy for Tobin’s Q. However, board size is positively related to performance. Our results are not driven by M&A activity. But, we provide new evidence that increases in board size due to additions of directors with subsidiary directorships may add value as BHC complexity increases. We conclude that governance regulation should take unique features of bank governance into account.     

Corporate governance and earnings management at large U.S. bank holding companies

This paper examines whether corporate governance mechanisms affect earnings and earnings management at the largest publicly traded bank holding companies in the United States. We first find that performance, earnings management, and corporate governance are endogenously determined. Thus, OLS estimation can lead to biased coefficients and a simultaneous equations approach is used. We find that CEO pay-for-performance sensitivity (PPS), board independence, and capital are positively related to earnings and that earnings, board independence, and capital are negatively related to earnings management. We also find that PPS is positively related to earnings management. Finally, PPS and board independence are positively related and the relationship is bidirectional. While both PPS and board independence are associated with higher earnings, our results indicate that more independent boards appear to constrain the earnings management that greater PPS compels.     

The effect of stock-for-debt swaps on bank holding companies

Twenty-two of the numerous stock-for-debt swaps that have taken place since August 1981 have been by bank holding companies. Although the most oft-quoted reason for making the swap is its positive effect on reported earnings, we argue that the effects of the Bankruptcy Tax Act of 1980 on the tax treatment of early retirement of discount debt often makes stock-for-debt swaps a preferable alternative to cash repurchases of discount debt for sinking fund obligations. Furthermore, for bank holding companies, the swaps allow them to adjust their capital positions to new optimal levels ad dictated by the more stringent capital standards promulgated by the regulatory authorities in 1981. For 99 non-banking firms we found a significant and negative abnormal average return on the swap announcement date of ?0.49 percent. For the 22 bank holding companies, however, we found no significant abnormal average return on the announcement date of the swaps. The results suggest that swaps may be reducing the potential costs of regulatory interference for bank holding companies if they are overlevered, which offsets whatever other force is driving down stock prices on new issue announcement dates.     

Size and earnings volatility of US bank holding companies

We examine whether bank earnings volatility depends on bank size. Using quarterly data for bank holding companies in the United States for the period 1995Q1–2010Q3 and controlling for the quality of management, leverage, and diversification, we find that bank size reduces return volatility. However, the effect is non-linear: when bank size exceeds a certain threshold (about US$5 billion) size is positively related to earnings volatility. The recent financial crisis decreased the threshold beyond which the impact of size on volatility turns positive.     

Diversification and the cost of debt of bank holding companies

In this study, we investigate the relationship between various dimensions of diversification and the cost of debt for publicly traded bank holding companies (BHCs). We find that both domestic geographic diversification of deposits and diversification of assets lead to a lower bond yield-spread. Diversification of non-traditional banking activities leads to a lower cost of debt only when yield-spread and diversification are estimated simultaneously. In addition, we find that medium-sized BHCs experience a greater reduction in bond yield-spread than small-sized and large-sized BHCs. This is consistent with the too-big-to-fail (TBTF) effects in the banking industry. Furthermore, we document that the association between diversification and yield-spread is bidirectional with higher yield-spreads being associated with greater asset and activity diversification and lower geographic deposit dispersion. The effect of diversification on bond yield-spread is robust after accounting for cross-sectional and serial correlation, and the endogeneity of diversification.     

Cyclicality of liquidity creation: Nonlinear evidence from US bank holding companies

Using a panel smooth transition regression framework on a new proxy of the business cycle (BC) index and quarterly data of US bank holding companies from 1993Q1 to 2020Q1, our results provide empirical support for the theory that the BC has a nonlinear effect on liquidity creation. We find a positive and highly significant nonlinear effect of the BC on liquidity creation, which not only supports the pro-cyclicality of liquidity creation but also improves the liquidity creation estimation compared to previous studies. The results are robust to different proxies of the BC and model specifications. We also document that US bank holding companies create liquidity more during the expansion phase (normal times) than during the recession phase (crisis times) of the BC, suggesting an asymmetrical effect of BC changes on liquidity creation. Our findings have important implications for financial market participants by suggesting that banks should keep alternative sources of funding on hand during the BC recession phase. Insights from our study also provide policy implications for central banks and prudent supervisors to consider when incentivizing banks, for instance, by lowering regulatory requirements, adjusting the policy rate, or implementing any other quantitative easing policy during the BC recession phase to keep the financial system efficient.     

Scale economies,X-efficiency,and convergence of productivity among bank holding companies

Are the less productive banks catching up to the more productive ones and, if so, how quickly and by what means? The objective of this study is to answer these questions by looking for convergence in productivity among bank holding companies (BHCs) in the US Past research has identified two major factors governing productivity in the banking sector – scale economies and X-efficiency. If the gains from scale economies decline with firm size and if the only difference between BHCs lies in their initial size, then the initially smaller BHCs should eventually catch up to the initially larger ones because the former tend to grow more quickly. However, the findings from this study do not support this hypothesis of “absolute convergence”. Indeed, the findings show strong evidence for “conditional convergence”, which means that the steady-state productivity to which a BHC is converging is conditional on the BHCs own level of X-efficiency. Conditional convergence implies that initial differences in X-efficiency among BHCs can, between them, create permanent differences in steady-state productivity.     

US bank holding companies: Structure of activities and performance through the cycles

The development of market-based finance has supported a larger involvement of banks in non-banking activities over the last decades. Does diversification beyond “traditional” banking result in actual diversification of earning risks and superior risk-return profile? Existing studies on bank performance address the effect of earnings based on accounting types and for specific time periods. With the exception of proprietary investments and financial leverage, knowledge with regard to underlying activities is scarce and little conclusive to date. Other studies, mainly stemming from central banks, do not focus on activity types or risk-return but evidence a marked influence of economic conditions and financial markets on banks' income.The paper proposes a twofold original contribution by addressing the influence of economic conditions and financial markets on specific activities conducted by banks. Based on granular data from a panel of US Bank Holding Companies (BHC), it first aims at estimating profitabilities related to “traditional” banking services and to (customers) investment services conditional to the environment. The study is then extended by the simulation of multiple scenarios to assess the expected performance of activities (profitability and risk) as well as the extent of uncertainty. Diversification into investment services is found to improve the expected risk-return. Also, well calibrated interest rate mismatch (between assets and liabilities) further supports performance. Deviations from historical volatilities and correlations of influential variables may cause diversification benefits to vary. Results however also suggest that the uncertainty of ROE associated with such diversification is limited compared to banking alone.     

Dividends and financial health: Evidence from U.S. bank holding companies

Using a large sample of U.S. bank holding companies from 1986 to 2020, we show that there is a positive relationship between banks' dividends lagged by one quarter and their financial health in the current quarter. We also find that this positive relationship is more pronounced for banks with lower capital adequacy and during the 2007–2009 financial crisis, indicating that it is more necessary for banks with these characteristics to use dividends to convey information regarding their financial health. Our additional analyses suggest that total payout is also positively associated with bank financial health, and that the positive relationship between dividends and financial health applies to private banks as well, but that the magnitude is weaker for them than for public banks. Our overall findings primarily complement a risk reduction hypothesis in corporate finance and bank payout policies.     

The funding of subsidiaries equity,double leverage and the risk of bank holding companies

Banking groups exploit double leverage when ‘debt is issued by the parent company and the proceeds are invested in subsidiaries as equity’. Financial authorities have frequently raised concerns about the issue of double leverage because this type of intra‐firm financing appears to allow for both the arbitrage of capital and the assumption of risk. This article focuses on the relationship between double leverage and risk‐taking within banking groups. First, we discuss this relationship based on an examination of balance sheet figures. Second, we analyze a large sample of United States Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) from 1990–2014. The results show that BHCs are more prone to risk when they increase their double leverage, namely, when the stake of the parent within subsidiaries is larger than the stand‐alone capital of the parent. This paper's primary implication for policymakers is that the regulators of complex financial entities should more efficiently address the issue of double leverage, thereby limiting the potential negative consequences that arise from corporate instability.     

Evidence on the role of holding company acquisitions in the management of bank capital

This article addresses the issue of the impact of bank acquisitions on the capital positions of acquired banks. The hypothesis tested is that acquisition-related capital changes reflect divergent capital-related acquisition motives which induce significant infusion of capital into some acquired banks and significant withdrawals from others.This study confirms that,on average, bank holding company acquisitions reduce the relative capital position of acquired banks, but it also indicates that this average effect masks evidence that acquisitions contribute to relative increases in capital in a significant subset of acquired banks. The results herein demonstrate that results of prior studies regarding the impact of acquisition and/or holding company affiliation on bank capital positions suffer from misspecification.The finding that there are divergent implications of acquisition for capital growth is consistent with the notion that acquisitions by bank holding companies may be providing important financial synergies to the banking industry by serving as a mechanism for relatively efficient reallocation of equity capital among affiliated banks.The authors wish to acknowledge helpful comments and suggestions of Harold Black, Tom Boehm, Ronnie Clayton, Stephen Rhoades, and anonymous referees.     

Real effects of bank capital regulations: Global evidence

We examine the effect of the full set of bank capital regulations (capital stringency) on loan growth, using bank-level data for a maximum of 125 countries over the period 1998–2011. Contrary to standard theoretical considerations, we find that overall capital stringency only has a weak negative effect on loan growth. In fact, this effect is completely offset if banks hold moderately high levels of capital. Interestingly, the components of capital stringency that have the strongest negative effect on loan growth are those related to the prevention of banks to use as capital borrowed funds and assets other than cash or government securities. In contrast, compliance with Basel guidelines in using Basel- and credit-risk weights has a much less potent effect on loan growth.     

The influence of earnings per share on capital issues: some evidence from UK companies

This paper investigates the simple hypothesis that when companies issue more capital, they have a tendency to select the type of capital, all other things being equal, which results in the higher short-term earnings per share (eps). The methodology employs probit analysis to test the hypothesis that the form of issue selected was that which gave the higher eps after controlling for other factors such as leverage and industry classification. The results lead us to conclude that there is evidence in capital issues of functional fixation on eps.     

Dividend payouts: Evidence from U.S. bank holding companies in the context of the financial crisis

We study dividend payouts of 462 U.S. bank holding companies before and during the 2007–09 financial crisis. Fama and French (2001) characteristics (size, profitability and growth opportunities) explain dividend payouts before and during the financial crisis. The agency cost hypothesis explains dividend payouts before and during (more pronouncedly) the financial crisis. The signaling hypothesis explains dividend payouts during the financial crisis. Regulatory pressure was ineffective in limiting dividend payouts by undercapitalized banks before the financial crisis. Our findings have implications for corporate finance and governance theories, and also for the regulatory reforms that are being discussed among policymakers.     

金融控股公司风险与控制问题分析

在金融一体化进程中,金融控股公司是有代表性的金融体制变革和制度创新的产物,也是我国金融由分业经营向混业经营渐进转变的现实选择.然而金融控股公司在经营过程中也存在着一些特殊的风险,如内部关联交易风险、资本重复计算的风险、结构复杂化带来的管理风险等.为此要尽快研究相关的约束和监管制度,构建金融控股公司的风险控制体系.     

大中华区IPO公司排行榜

The top 10 companies in raising capital by IPO从2001年到2003年,IPO 募集资金排名前10位的公司占当年所有IPO募集资金总数的百分比分别是47%、62%和60%。2002年和2003年IPO募集资金排名前为10位的公司募集的资金总数比2001年的前10位公司分别增加了67%。除2002年,其他两年I     

Internal capital markets and lending by multinational bank subsidiaries

We use new panel data on the intra-group ownership structure and the balance sheets of 45 of the largest multinational bank holdings to analyze what determines the credit growth of their subsidiaries. We find evidence for the existence of internal capital markets through which multinational banks manage the credit growth of their subsidiaries. Multinational bank subsidiaries with financially strong parent banks are able to expand their lending faster. As a result of parental support, foreign bank subsidiaries also do not need to rein in their credit supply during a financial crisis, while domestic banks need to do so.