We study the implications of the value at risk concept for the bank's optimum amount of equity capital under credit risk. The market value of loans is risky and lognormally distributed. We show that the required equity capital depends upon managerial and market factors. Furthermore, the bank's...

The value at risk measure attempts to summarize in a single number market value risk of a portfolio of financial assets.The paper focuses on the interaction between the solvency probability of a bank, on one hand, and the diversification potential of its portfolio, on the other hand, when...