Governments and domestic banks in Europe have attracted criticism due to the heightening inclination of banks to hold more local sovereign debt in the midst of the crisis. This has traditionally been interpreted as an evidence of financial repression or moral suasion. By using a novel dataset on...

Based on a detailed trade-level dataset, we analyze the proprietary trading behavior of German banks in the months directly preceding and following the Lehman collapse in September 2008. The default of Lehman Brothers was a shock to the German banking system that was both unexpected and...

European banks have been criticized for holding excessive domestic government debt during economic downturns, which has been interpreted as indicative evidence of moral suasion. By using a novel bank-level dataset covering the entire timeline of the eurozone crisis, I first re-confirm that the...

We assess the impact of contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds and the wealth transfers they imply conditional on conversion on the risk-taking behaviour of the issuing bank. We also test for regulatory arbitrage: do banks try to maintain risk-taking incentives by issuing CoCo bonds, when...

In this paper, we investigate the role played by the organizational structure of bank holding companies in the earnings management of bank subsidiaries. Our results suggest that bank holding companies manage their subsidiaries to optimize the reporting outcome at the consolidated level. We find...

Sweep deposits from brokerage firms to banks vary inversely with the stock market. When the stock market declines, retail investors reduce risk and sell stocks, with the proceeds typically swept out of brokerage firms and into banks. The relation is asymmetric as sweep deposits do not appear to...

In this paper, we look at how the pre-crisis health of banks is related to the probability of receiving and repaying TARP capital. We find that financial performance characteristics that are related to the probability of receiving TARP funds differ for the healthiest (“over-achiever”) versus...

We show that a pattern of earnings management in bank financial statements has little bearing on downside risk during quiet periods, but seems to have a big impact during a financial crisis. More aggressive earnings managers prior to 2007 exhibit substantially higher risk once the financial...

European banks have been criticized for holding excessive domestic government debt during economic downturns, which may have intensified the diabolic loop between sovereign and bank credit risks. By using a novel bank-level dataset covering the entire timeline of the Eurozone crisis, I first...

The study proposes a framework to choose the right non-performing loan (NPL) stock reduction strategy mix, through “on balance sheet” and “off balance sheet” solutions. The study considers as a reference point the European banking supervisory Authorities' guidelines and regulations...