This paper investigates bank portfolio composition under Basel II where the amount of required capital is determined by bank's own risk assessment. We particularly show that in presence of asymmetric information between the bank and the supervisor, it has incentives to understate its risk taking...

We depart from the fact that in Europe, unlike the leverage ratio, risk-based capital ratios are formally under capital regulation with specified minimum thresholds to be respected. Building on this difference, we study their comparative persistence and convergence. For this purpose, we borrow...

Using a sample of European commercial banks over the period 1993-2006, we show that market discipline significantly and positively affects banks' capital buffer. By distinguishing junior from senior debt holders, we find that both types of investors exert a pressure on banks to hold more capital...

Access to and usage of formal financial services are important determinants of financial inclusion and yet, informal mechanisms still dominate the financial system in developing countries. In this context, the purpose of our paper is to investigate how the growing effort to harness mobile money...

Mobile money, a technology-driven innovation in financial services, has profoundly penetrated the financial landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa, including banks. Yet, besides anecdotal evidence, little is known about whether mobile money adoption enhances or worsens bank performance. Combining...

We investigate whether the use of mobile money can help individuals build savings to face predictable and unpredictable life events. Studying the case of Burkina Faso, we use hand-collected data from individual responses to a survey we designed and conducted between May and June 2014. Our main...

We investigate how bank charter value affects risk for a sample of OECD banks by using standalone and systemic risk measures before, during, and after the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. Prior to the crisis, bank charter value is positively associated with risk-taking and systemic risk for...