This paper examines how bank culture helps to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on banks’ default risk. Using 2,667 quarterly earnings call transcripts for a sample of 161 US Bank Holding Companies over 2016-20, we find that a stronger bank culture reduces the distance to default following...

This paper examines how bank culture helps to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on banks’ default risk. Using 2,667 quarterly earnings call transcripts for a sample of 161 US Bank Holding Companies, we find that a stronger bank culture reduces banks’ default risk following COVID-19 shock. In...