In some emerging financial markets, high cross sectional return correlations limit the risk reduction benefits of diversification. The dominant explanation for these high correlations in the literature is that they result from shortages of information (c.f. Grossman, 1976, Roll, 1992, Stulz,...

We examine the economic implications arising from a bank using a VaR-constrained mean-variance model for the selection of its trading portfolio as a consequence of the Basle Capital Accord. Surprisingly, we show that when a VaR constraint is imposed, it is plausible that certain banks will end...

Using a vector autoregressive (VAR) model with monthly data from 1988 through 2001, this study investigates factors that drive the excess returns on a widely followed mortgage-backed securities (MBS) index. We find that eight important economic variables (industrial productions, new home sales,...

In attempting to promote international financial stability, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (2006) provided a framework that sought to control the amount of tail risk that large banks around the world would take in their trading books relative to their corresponding minimum capital...

Recognizing that many banks suffered trading losses that notably exceeded their minimum capital requirements during the recent crisis, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (2011) revised its regulatory framework for trading portfolios. In this paper, we compare: (1) the relative...

In setting minimum capital requirements for trading portfolios, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (1996, 2011a, 2013) initially used Value-at-Risk (VaR), then both VaR and stressed VaR (SVaR), and most recently, stressed Conditional VaR (SCVaR). Accordingly, we examine the use of SCVaR...

Regulations leading up to the financial crisis of 2007-2009 provided incentives for banks shift their risk profiles toward less regulated areas. We focus on the case of operational risk which went from being a relatively benign and largely unregulated risk type to a major risk that now accounts...

Recent policy discussion includes the introduction of diversification requirements for sovereign bond portfolios of European banks. In this paper, we evaluate the possible effects of these constraints on risk and diversification in the sovereign bond portfolios of the major European banks....

In this paper we use a novel approach to address issues of endogeneity in estimating a causal effect of leverage on risk taking by banks. Using data on local bank office deposits and local unemployment we construct an instrument to use in a regression of leverage on a measure of risk taking...

The aim of this paper is to present and briefly analyse the provisions of the recent (24 May 2018) European Commission's proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council, whose objective is to lay down a general framework for sovereign bond-backed securities (SBBSs). It is...