On implementation, IFRS 9 increases credit loss (impairment) charges and reduces after-tax profits of banks. This makes retained earnings and hence capital resources lower than what they would be under IAS 39. To maintain their capital ratios under IFRS 9, banks could elect to hold higher levels...

We investigate how the interaction of the Brexit and COVID waves of the Bank of England’s quantitative easing with the leverage ratio capital requirements or government COVID lending support schemes affected bank business lending. We find that the former QE programme was particularly...