Predicting Vulnerabilities in the EU Banking Sector: The Role of Global and Domestic Factors

We estimate a multivariate early-warning model to assess the usefulness of private credit and other macrofinancial variables in predicting banking-sector vulnerabilities. Using data for twenty-three European countries, we find that global variables and in particular global credit growth are strong predictors of domestic vulnerabilities. Moreover, domestic credit variables also have high predictive power but should be complemented by other macrofinancial indicators such as house price growth and banking-sector capitalization that play a salient role in predicting vulnerabilities. Our findings can inform decisions on the activation of macroprudential policy measures and suggest that policymakers should take a broad approach in the analytical models that support risk identification and calibration of tools.