IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v14y2021i6p258-d570896.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Solvency Regulation—An Assessment of Basel III for Banks and of Planned Solvency III for Insurers

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Zweifel

    (Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland)

Abstract

Basel III, regulating the solvency of banks, is to be fully implemented by 2027 while Solvency III directed at insurers is being prepared. In view of past experience, it will be closely modelled after Basel III. This raises two questions. (i) Will Basel III and Solvency III be more successful than their predecessors? (ii) Is it appropriate to continue regulating the solvency of banks and insurers in the same way? The first question is motivated by an earlier finding that Basel I and II risked inducing more rather than less risk-taking by banks, which also holds for Solvency I and II w.r.t. insurers. The methodology applied was to determine the slope of an endogenous perceived efficiency frontier (EPEF) in ( μ ^ , σ ^ )-space derived from banks’ and insurers’ optimal adjustment to exogenous changes, in expected returns d μ ¯ and volatility d σ ¯ on the capital market. Both Basel I and II and Solvency I and II neglected the impact of these developments on banks’ and insurers’ EPEF. This neglect had the effect of steepening the EPEF, causing senior management to opt for an increased rather than reduced value of σ ^ , and hence a lower solvency level. This issue is resolved by Basel III (Principle 5), which requires banks to take developments in the capital market into account in the formulation of their business strategies designed to ensure solvency. In combination with increased capital requirements, this is shown to result in a reduced slope of their EPEF and hence a reduced risk exposure. However, planned Solvency III may cause the EPEF of highly capitalized insurance companies to become steeper, with a concomitant decrease in their risk-taking and an increase of their solvency level. The second question, concerning the appropriateness of the uniformity of solvency regulation directed at banks and insurers, arises because the parameters determining the slope of the respective EPEF are found to crucially differ. Therefore, the uniformity of Basel and Solvency norms creates the risk of a mistaken regulatory focus.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Zweifel, 2021. "Solvency Regulation—An Assessment of Basel III for Banks and of Planned Solvency III for Insurers," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-22, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:6:p:258-:d:570896
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/6/258/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/6/258/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Flannery, Mark J & Sorescu, Sorin M, 1996. "Evidence of Bank Market Discipline in Subordinated Debenture Yields: 1983-1991," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1347-1377, September.
    2. Repullo, Rafael, 2004. "Capital requirements, market power, and risk-taking in banking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 156-182, April.
    3. Goldberg, Lawrence G. & Hudgins, Sylvia C., 2002. "Depositor discipline and changing strategies for regulating thrift institutions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 263-274, February.
    4. John S. Jordan, 2000. "Depositor discipline at failing banks," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Mar, pages 15-28.
    5. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 14-23.
    6. Milidonis, Andreas & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2014. "Managerial Incentives, Risk Aversion, and Debt," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(2), pages 453-481, April.
    7. Cummins, J David, 1988. " Risk-Based Premiums for Insurance Guaranty Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(4), pages 823-839, September.
    8. Koehn, Michael & Santomero, Anthony M, 1980. "Regulation of Bank Capital and Portfolio Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 35(5), pages 1235-1244, December.
    9. David Cummins, J. & Sommer, David W., 1996. "Capital and risk in property-liability insurance markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 1069-1092, July.
    10. Gormley, Todd A. & Matsa, David A., 2016. "Playing it safe? Managerial preferences, risk, and agency conflicts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 431-455.
    11. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    12. Park, Sangkyun & Peristiani, Stavros, 1998. "Market Discipline by Thrift Depositors," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(3), pages 347-364, August.
    13. Kim, Daesik & Santomero, Anthony M, 1988. " Risk in Banking and Capital Regulation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(5), pages 1219-1233, December.
    14. Thomas L. Hogan, 2021. "A Review of the Regulatory Impact Analysis of Risk-Based Capital and Related Liquidity Rules," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29, January.
    15. James R. Barth & Stephen Matteo Miller, 2018. "On the Rising Complexity of Bank Regulatory Capital Requirements: From Global Guidelines to their United States (US) Implementation," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-33, November.
    16. J. David Cummins & David J. Nye, 1981. "Portfolio Optimization Models for Property-Liability Insurance Companies: An Analysis and Some Extensions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 414-430, April.
    17. John, Kose & Saunders, Anthony & Senbet, Lemma W, 2000. "A Theory of Bank Regulation and Management Compensation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 95-125.
    18. Bauer, Wolfgang & Ryser, Marc, 2004. "Risk management strategies for banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 331-352, February.
    19. Christoph Aymanns & Carlos Caceres & Christina Daniel & Miss Liliana B Schumacher, 2016. "Bank Solvency and Funding Cost," IMF Working Papers 2016/064, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Goldberg, Lawrence G. & Hudgins, Sylvia C., 1996. "Response of uninsured depositors to impending S&L failures: Evidence of depositor discipline," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 311-325.
    21. Peter Woehrmann & Willi Semmler & Martin Lettau, "undated". "Nonparametric Estimation of the Time-varying Sharpe Ratio in Dynamic Asset Pricing Models," IEW - Working Papers 225, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    22. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    23. Daniel M. Covitz & Diana Hancock & Myron L. Kwast, 2004. "A reconsideration of the risk sensitivity of U.S. banking organization subordinated debt spreads: a sample selection approach," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sep, pages 73-92.
    24. Jacklin, Charles J & Bhattacharya, Sudipto, 1988. "Distinguishing Panics and Information-Based Bank Runs: Welfare and Policy Implications," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(3), pages 568-592, June.
    25. Mark J. Flannery, 2014. "Maintaining Adequate Bank Capital," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(s1), pages 157-180, February.
    26. René M. Stulz, 1996. "Rethinking Risk Management," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 9(3), pages 8-25, September.
    27. Rochet, Jean-Charles, 1992. "Capital requirements and the behaviour of commercial banks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1137-1170, June.
    28. Epermanis, Karen & Harrington, Scott E., 2006. "Market Discipline in Property/Casualty Insurance: Evidence from Premium Growth Surrounding Changes in Financial Strength Ratings," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(6), pages 1515-1544, September.
    29. Philippe Artzner & Freddy Delbaen & Jean‐Marc Eber & David Heath, 1999. "Coherent Measures of Risk," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 203-228, July.
    30. Furfine, Craig H, 2003. "Interbank Exposures: Quantifying the Risk of Contagion," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(1), pages 111-128, February.
    31. Panna Miskolczi, 2016. "Differences Between Mean-Variance And Mean-Cvar Portfolio Optimization Models," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 548-557, July.
    32. Anat R. Admati & Peter M. DeMarzo & Martin F. Hellwig & Paul Pfleiderer, 2013. "Fallacies, Irrelevant Facts, and Myths in the Discussion of Capital Regulation: Why Bank Equity is Not Socially Expensive," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2013_23, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Zweifel & Dieter Pfaff & Jochen Kühn, 2012. "Why solvency regulation of banks fails to reach its objective," Working Papers 303, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    2. Peter Zweifel & Dieter Pfaff & Jochen Kühn, 2015. "A Simple Model of Bank Behaviour—With Implications for Solvency Regulation," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 3(1), pages 49-68, June.
    3. Ernest Dautovic, 2019. "Has Regulatory Capital Made Banks Safer? Skin in the Game vs Moral Hazard," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 19.03, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    4. Ćehajić, Aida & Košak, Marko, 2021. "Macroprudential measures and developments in bank funding costs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2004_010 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Alexander, Gordon J. & Baptista, Alexandre M. & Yan, Shu, 2012. "When more is less: Using multiple constraints to reduce tail risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 2693-2716.
    7. Mälkönen, Ville, 2004. "Capital adequacy regulation and financial conglomerates," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 10/2004, Bank of Finland.
    8. Delis, Manthos D. & Karavias, Yiannis, 2015. "Optimal versus realized bank credit risk and monetary policy," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 13-30.
    9. Paul H. Kupiec & James M. O'Brien, 1998. "Deposit insurance, bank incentives, and the design of regulatory policy," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 4(Oct), pages 201-211.
    10. Marc J. K. De Ceuster & Nancy Masschelein, 2003. "Regulating Banks through Market Discipline: A Survey of the Issues," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(5), pages 749-766, December.
    11. Tobias Adrian & Hyun Song Shin, 2014. "Procyclical Leverage and Value-at-Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(2), pages 373-403.
    12. Ralf Bebenroth & Diemo Dietrich & Uwe Vollmer, 2009. "Bank regulation and supervision in bank-dominated financial systems: a comparison between Japan and Germany," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 177-209, April.
    13. Gorton, Gary & Winton, Andrew, 2003. "Financial intermediation," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 431-552, Elsevier.
    14. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem & Zheng, Changjun & Jiang, Chonghui & Qian, Ningyu, 2020. "Capital regulation, deposit insurance and bank risk: International evidence from normal and crisis periods," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    15. Zweifel Peter, 2019. "Planned Solvency III Regulation: Should It Be Adopted Outside the European Union?," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, January.
    16. Kjell Bjørn Nordal, 2009. "A real options approach for evaluating the implementation of a risk‐sensitive capital rule in banks," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), pages 132-141, August.
    17. Maechler, Andrea M. & McDill, Kathleen M., 2006. "Dynamic depositor discipline in US banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1871-1898, July.
    18. Lassaâd Mbarek & Dorra Mezzez Hmaied, 2012. "Stock Market Assessment of Bank Risk: Evidence from the Maghreb Region," Working Papers 679, Economic Research Forum, revised 2012.
    19. Javier Suárez, 1998. "Risk-taking and the prudential regulation of banks," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 22(3), pages 307-336, September.
    20. Conlon, Thomas & Cotter, John & Molyneux, Philip, 2020. "Beyond common equity: The influence of secondary capital on bank insolvency risk," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    21. Claudio Borio, 2011. "Rediscovering the Macroeconomic Roots of Financial Stability Policy: Journey, Challenges, and a Way Forward," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 87-117, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:6:p:258-:d:570896. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.