The paper investigates whether there is sufficient empirical support in Italy for the introduction of a sectoral countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) in the macroprudential framework. We study the sectoral decomposition of the credit-to-GDP gap over the period 1990Q1-2017Q2. Overall, our...

Many studies have questioned the reliability of banks' calculations of risk-weighted assets (RWA) for prudential purposes. The significant divergences found at international level are taken as indicating excessive subjectivity in the current rules governing banks' risk measurement and capital...

This paper reviews the quantitative methods used at selected central banks to stress testing credit risk, focusing in particular on the methods used to link macroeconomic drivers of stress with bank specific measures of credit risk (macro stress test). Stress testing credit risk is an essential...

Current policy debate has renewed interest in counter-cyclical provisioning policies; dynamic provisions are regarded as a valuable device for pursuing this goal. Last July, Ecofin supported "the introduction of forward-looking provisioning, which consists in constituting provisions deducted...

This article focuses on the application of the Pykhtin model to the Italian banking system to measure concentration risk by industry sector and geographic region. The proposed approach generalizes the portfolio model used in Pillar 1 for the calculation of the capital requirement, removing the...