Bank regulators and academics have long conjectured the beneficial effects of smoothing in loan loss provisions (i.e., making higher provisions during good times so as to avoid doing so during bad times) for bank lending and stability, while accounting regulators express concerns about its...

Regulators in developing countries have started to strict banks' foreign currency (FC) lending. Following others, in June 2009, in what is considered "a surprise development" the Turkish Government removed a provision from its existing laws that had allowed Turkish residents to borrow in foreign...