Bank profitability, leverage constraints, and risk-taking

Authors
Publication date 10-2020
Journal Journal of Financial Intermediation
Article number 100821
Volume | Issue number 44
Number of pages 19
Organisations
  • Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) - Amsterdam Business School Research Institute (ABS-RI)
Abstract Traditional theory suggests that higher bank profitability (or franchise value) dissuades bank risk-taking. We highlight an opposite effect: higher profitability loosens bank borrowing constraints. This enables profitable banks to take risk on a larger scale, inducing risk-taking. This effect is more pronounced when bank leverage constraints are looser, or when new investments can be financed with senior funding (such as repos). The model’s predictions are consistent with some notable cross-sectional patterns of bank risk-taking in the run-up to the 2008 crisis.

Document type Article
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfi.2019.03.006
Permalink to this page
Back