Economic resilience under COVID-19 in the CEMAC zone: Are procyclical adjustments of capital requirements necessary?

This paper analyzes the effects of procyclical regulatory capital adjustments on the ability of CEMAC economies to recover from the COVID-19. To achieve the objective, it uses quarterly data from 2005 to 2020 and Generalized Least Squares estimators as a technique. The results obtained show that the severity of the COVID-19 significantly impacted the economies of the sub-region and their ability to be resilient. Further, the results are robust regardless of the economic resilience indicator considered. Pro-cyclical capital adjustments in the pandemic context have a positive impact on resilience, thereby reducing exposure to economic vulnerabilities. It is advisable to promote countercyclical adjustments of regulatory capital to improve economic resilience. This is regardless the fact that under COVID-19, economic contractions may induce banks to adopt more pro-cyclical behavior in order to reduce the vulnerability of economies.

Bank-specific performance indicators, macroeconomic variables and capital adequacy of Nigerian banking industry

[...]we canvass those Nigerian banks should reduce dividend payouts and increase retained profits as a buffer against exposed risks. To ensure the healthiness of banks in the banking industry as well as facilitate international transaction, the central bank of ten countries (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US) formed the committee of banking supervision in 1988 (the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision). Since the formation of this committee, it has undergone at least three stages called the Basel I, Basel II and Basel III. Premised on shock to the economy brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, with economic growth in 2020 expected to contract by as much as 4.4 percent to 8.94 percent, a drop in oil receipt and a devalued Naira in the range of 380-450 to US dollar, the capital adequacy of banks could be severely threatened, (Egba, 2020). [...]scholars have extensively shown that bank specific performance indicators and macroeconomic factors affected capital adequacy ratio. [...]this paper examined the effect of banks specific-performance indicators and macroeconomic factors on bank financing which is the minimum funds required for their short-term obligation or capital adequacy ratio.

Lender financial reporting incentives and loan prioritization during the Paycheck Protection Program

Purpose>This study contributes to a growing body of literature on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by examining how lender incentives affected prioritization of large borrowers. In addition, this study separately examines incentives for commercial banks and credit unions during the program.Design/methodology/approach>Using 2020 PPP loan data, the authors create a proxy for lender loan prioritization by comparing the skewness statistics of large and small loan distributions. A regression model is used to examine lender reporting incentives and loan prioritization.Findings>Results show that larger borrowers were prioritized in receiving PPP loans earlier. Lenders with financial reporting concerns and commercial banks favored large borrowers to a greater extent.Practical implications>This study may inform social planners and regulators about the benefits and costs of delegating emergency funding loan decisions to financial institutions.Originality/value>The authors believe this paper is the first to examine financial institution reporting incentives in relationship to PPP lending practices. It adds novelty by examining lender incentives, while prior research has focused heavily on the economic consequences of the program and how borrower–lender relationships affected loan practices during the program.

How bank capital structure decision-making change in recessions: Covid-19 evidence from Pakistan

Purpose>This study contributes to existing literature by investigating bank capital structure dynamics during the Covid-19 pandemic. The role of contemporary bank-specific determinants of capital structure during this period is analyzed.Design/methodology/approach>An independent t-test is carried out to check the response of bank leverage to the crisis. Using fixed effect estimation and difference general method of moments (GMM), the impact of the shock is examined. An unbalanced quarterly data set from 2016q1 to 2020q3 of all commercial banks in Pakistan is used.Findings>The study finds that due to procyclicality of capital, during the Covid-19 crisis, the banks preempted a fall in capital and improved their capital positions. The role of bank specific variables in determining capital structure like profitability, size and competition weakened during this period. Evidence suggests that policy rate intervention by the central bank was a significant factor in capital structure decisions during the Covid-19 period. The study finds that macroeconomic shocks have significant impact on capital structure decision-making of banks which goes beyond the bank-specific factors.Originality/value>It finds evidence of a moderating role of monetary policy in capital structure decision-making which has not been previously highlighted in literature. Monetary policy is found to become an important factor deciding the capital structure of banks during the Covid-19 first 3 quarters. This study also explores the impact of Covid-19 on the bank-specific determinants of capital structure of banks.

Basel III Capital Regulation – A Brief Discussion

[...]the latest Master Circular chooses continuity over radical change in capital regulations. Even Indian banks which were brought under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework exhibited a chronic deficiency of Tier I capital. [...]the stated goal of the Basel III regulations was to increase bank reliance on Tier I Capital, under normal and stressed conditions. [...]the credit risk capital requirements in India are at least as high as the global benchmarks. Under this approach, Operational Risk Capital Charges are equal to 15 per cent of Average Gross Income over the last three years (provided gross income is positive each year). [...]for regulatory capital charge estimation, banks will continue to assume that the size of operational losses increases with the scale of business (i.e. gross income) and there are no diversification benefits across business lines.

Optimal Asset Allocation Subject to Withdrawal Risk and Solvency Constraints

This paper investigates the optimal asset allocation of a financial institution whose customers are free to withdraw their capital-guaranteed financial contracts at any time. In accounting for the asset-liability mismatch risk of the institution, we present a general utility optimization problem in a discrete-time setting and provide a dynamic programming principle for the optimal investment strategies. Furthermore, we consider an explicit context, including liquidity risk, interest rate, and credit intensity fluctuations, and show by numerical results that the optimal strategy improves both the solvency and asset returns of the institution compared to a standard institutional investor’s asset allocation.