In the wake of the crisis, the capacity of many banks to lend to relatively high-risk sectors such as SMEs and young, innovative firms is seriously impaired by capital constraints and a strong deterioration in the quality of the assets on their balance sheets. Looking forward, it is vital that...

The emerging Europe has been hardest hit by the surge in the non-performing loans (NPLs) in the aftermath of the global financial turbulence and the crisis-induced recession. The surge in the NPLs generated a severe banking distress, and left a legacy of a debt overhang that dramatically...

We study the vulnerability of 130 banks directly supervised by the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism. Illustrative stress tests using banks' balance sheet data reveal that significant stress prevails in the euro area's smaller and medium-sized banks, many of them located in...

The purpose of this study is to identify, using an econometric model, the factors affecting the Non-Performing Loans Rate (NPL) of the banking systems of the Eurozone for the period 2000-2008. Today, the Eurozone is in the middle of an unprecedented financial crisis, calling into question the...

We contribute to the empirical literature on the impact of non-performing loan (NPL) ratios on aggregate banking sector variables and the macroeconomy by estimating a panel Bayesian VAR model for twelve euro area countries. The model is estimated assuming a hierarchical prior that allows for...

Impaired assets such as non-performing loans (“NPLs”) continue to pose significant problems across the EU. When possible solutions are being considered, “bad banks” or similar impaired asset relief measures are oſten discussed. However, if they involve support by the State such measures...