This paper examines the common factors that drive the returns of U.S. bank holding companies from 1997 to 2005. We compare a range of market models from a basic one-factor model to a nine-factor model that includes the standard Fama-French factors and additional factors thought to be...

This paper considers a simple model of credit risk and derives the limit distribution of losses under different assumptions regarding the structure of systematic and idiosyncratic risks and the nature of firm heterogeneity. The theoretical results obtained indicate that if firm-specific risk...

Stress testing has become a tool of choice in banking for risk managers and regulators alike, and it is used more widely as a way to assess resilience to severely adverse events. Yet even the most creative risk manager would have been challenged to design a scenario that would have adequately...

Identifying the relevant risk factors and their interdependence is central to understanding the risk exposures and vulnerabilities of a financial institution. It is needed for risk management, solvency assessment and stress testing. We assemble a unique dataset of risk factors relevant for...

We trace the development of model risk management in U.S. banking against the backdrop of the growing importance of complex financial models in banks, the recognition of model risk, the emergence of model validation as a response to model risk, and the contribution of failures in model risk...

Operational risk is fundamentally different from all other risks taken on by a bank. It is embedded in every activity and product of an institution, and in contrast to the conventional financial risks (e.g. market, credit) is harder to measure and model, and not straight forwardly eliminated...

This year, 2015, marks the six-year anniversary of US regulatory stress testing. We observe three key trends: 1) Increasingly aggressive capital management: Banks initially responded to CCAR by maintaining wide capital cushions vs. regulatory minimums. However, as CCAR processes stabilize and...

Stress testing served us well as a crisis management tool, and we see it applied increasingly to peacetime oversight of banks and banking systems. Stress testing is rapidly become the dominant supervisory tool on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet the objectives and certainly the conditions are...

"Stress tests are the most innovative regulatory tool to prevent and fight financial crises. Their use has fundamentally changed the mathematical modeling of financial systems, financial risk management in the public and private sector, and the policies designed to prevent and mitigate financial...