In contrast to earlier field studies, we survey German public savings banks on their management of capital. We find that the most important determinants of the savings banks’ target capital ratio are risk aversion, the desired credit growth and profitability. Savings banks prefer to manage the...

Der ZEW-Finanzmarkttest ist eine seit Dezember 1991 durchgeführte Umfrage, in der monatlich die vorherrschenden Erwartungen über die Entwicklung an den internationalen Finanzmärkten erhoben werden. Insgesamt beteiligen sich rund 350 Analysten an dieser Umfrage, darunter etwa 270 aus Banken...

The savings banks’ decision to distribute profits among their public owners is strongly regulated by law in order to guarantee their adequate funding via retained profits. However, the legal scope is reluctantly exhausted. In this study we examine the determinants of the savings banks’...