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The value of bank capital buffers in maintaining financial system resilience

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  • Bui, Christina
  • Scheule, Harald
  • Wu, Eliza

Abstract

There is a current controversy concerning the appropriate size of banks’ capital requirements, and the trade-off between the costs and benefits of implementing higher capital requirements. We quantify the size of capital buffers required to reduce system-wide losses using confidential regulatory data for Australian banks from 2002 to 2014 and annual public accounts from 1978 to 2014. We find that a moderate increase in bank capital buffers is sufficient to maintain financial system resilience, even after taking economic downturns into consideration. Furthermore, while banks benefit from paying a lower cost of debt when they have a higher capital buffer, lending volumes are lower indicating that credit supply may be hampered if bank capital levels are too high within a financial system.

Suggested Citation

  • Bui, Christina & Scheule, Harald & Wu, Eliza, 2017. "The value of bank capital buffers in maintaining financial system resilience," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 23-40.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finsta:v:33:y:2017:i:c:p:23-40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfs.2017.10.006
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    8. Mathur, Aakriti & Naylor, Matthew & Rajan, Aniruddha, 2023. "Useful, usable, and used? Buffer usability during the Covid-19 crisis," Bank of England working papers 1011, Bank of England.
    9. Damilola Oyetade & Adefemi A. Obalade & Paul-Francois Muzindutsi, 2022. "The Impact of Changes in Basel Capital Requirements on the Resilience of African Commercial Banks," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business (continues Analele Stiintifice), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 69(1), pages 111-132, January.
    10. Peterson K. Ozili & Paul Terhemba Iorember, 2024. "Financial stability and sustainable development," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 2620-2646, July.
    11. Xiaohui Chen & Yiqing He, 2022. "The Impact of Financial Resilience and Steady Growth on High-Quality Economic Development—Based on a Heterogeneous Intermediary Effect Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    12. G. Gospodarchuk G. & Г. Господарчук Г., 2019. "Резервный буфер капитала как инструмент макропруденциальной политики // Reserve Capital buffer as an Instrument of Macroprudential Policy," Финансы: теория и практика/Finance: Theory and Practice // Finance: Theory and Practice, ФГОБУВО Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации // Financial University under The Government of Russian Federation, vol. 23(4), pages 43-56.
    13. Alin-Marius Andries & Florentina Melnic & Simona Nistor, 2018. "Effects of Macroprudential Policy on Systemic Risk and Bank Risk Taking," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 68(3), pages 202-244, July.
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    15. Ahmad Sahyouni & Man Wang, 2022. "Bank capital and liquidity creation: evidence from Islamic and conventional MENA banks," Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(3), pages 291-311.
    16. Sivec, Vasja & Volk, Matjaz & Chen, Yi-An, 2018. "Empirical Evidence on the Effectiveness of Capital Buffer Release," MPRA Paper 84323, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Jan 2018.
    17. Cristina Ruza & Marta de la Cuesta-González & Juandiego Paredes-Gazquez, 2019. "Banking system resilience: an empirical appraisal," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(6), pages 1241-1257, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital buffer; Loan loss provisions; Systemic risk; Financial resilience;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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