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Countercyclical capital buffers and credit supply: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis

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  • Dursun-de Neef, H． Özlem
  • Schandlbauer, Alexander
  • Wittig, Colin

Abstract

This paper examines how European banks adjusted their lending subsequent to the release of the countercyclical capital buffers (CCyB) during the COVID-19 pandemic. At its onset in 2020Q1, being exposed to a higher ex-ante countercyclical capital buffer led to a reduction in banks’ lending. Yet the relief of the CCyBs removed this negative effect from 2020Q2 onwards. We find that the reduction in CCyBs led to a significant relative increase in the average bank’s lending by about 5.6 percentage points of their total assets. This increase happened mainly in retail mortgage loans and was stronger for poorly-capitalized banks. These results imply that the release of the CCyBs was effective in promoting bank lending during the pandemic.

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  • Dursun-de Neef, H． Özlem & Schandlbauer, Alexander & Wittig, Colin, 2023. "Countercyclical capital buffers and credit supply: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:154:y:2023:i:c:s0378426623001358
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2023.106930
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Countercyclical capital buffers; Bank lending; European banks; Bank capitalization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers

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