IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v43y2011i21p2811-2822.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Business cycles and bank regulations - what happens to bank provisioning? A more comprehensive look at 49 countries

Author

Listed:
  • Meng-Fen Hsieh
  • Chung-Hua Shen

Abstract

Numerous researchers provide evidence that many banks intend to increase their Loan Loss Provisioning (LLP) when the economy is in a downward trend. However, the answer whether banks provide sufficient provisions when the economy is in an upturn trend remains unsolved. Furthermore, provisioning must be influenced not only by business cycles and bank earnings, but also by the regulatory system. Nevertheless, empirical research on this issue has been scarce. Thus, this study intends to answer two questions shown above. The evidence shows that with steady growth in both the economy and bank earnings, the bank management will tend to increase LLP, whereas with a buoyant economy but negative growth in bank earnings, the management will exhibit an inclination to reduce LLP. As regards the influence of bank regulation on provisions, the evidence shows that, under certain circumstances, banks make more provision based on regulatory considerations. This explains why bank regulations regarding LLP across countries do have an impact on banks' provisioning behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng-Fen Hsieh & Chung-Hua Shen, 2011. "Business cycles and bank regulations - what happens to bank provisioning? A more comprehensive look at 49 countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(21), pages 2811-2822.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:43:y:2011:i:21:p:2811-2822
    DOI: 10.1080/00036840903389812
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036840903389812
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036840903389812?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laeven, Luc & Majnoni, Giovanni, 2003. "Loan loss provisioning and economic slowdowns: too much, too late?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 178-197, April.
    2. Wetmore, Jill L. & Brick, John R., 1994. "Loan-loss provisions of commercial banks and adequate disclosure: A note," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 299-305, October.
    3. Fudenberg, Drew & Tirole, Jean, 1995. "A Theory of Income and Dividend Smoothing Based on Incumbency Rents," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(1), pages 75-93, February.
    4. Bikker, J.A. & Metzemakers, P.A.J., 2005. "Bank provisioning behaviour and procyclicality," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 141-157, April.
    5. Mario Quagliariello, 2007. "Banks' riskiness over the business cycle: a panel analysis on Italian intermediaries," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 119-138.
    6. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    7. Collins, Jh & Shackelford, Da & Wahlen, Jm, 1995. "Bank Differences In The Coordination Of Regulatory Capital, Earnings, And Taxes," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 263-291.
    8. Kim, Myung-Sun & Kross, William, 1998. "The impact of the 1989 change in bank capital standards on loan loss provisions and loan write-offs," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 69-99, February.
    9. Degeorge, Francois & Patel, Jayendu & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1999. "Earnings Management to Exceed Thresholds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 1-33, January.
    10. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Takeda, Carolyn & Thomas, Shawn, 1999. "Bank loan loss provisions: a reexamination of capital management, earnings management and signaling effects," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 1-25, November.
    11. Kyongwook Choi & Brandon Dupont, 2007. "Revisiting structural change and market integration in late 19th century American capital markets," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(21), pages 2733-2741.
    12. DeFond, Mark L. & Park, Chul W., 1997. "Smoothing income in anticipation of future earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 115-139, July.
    13. Iftekhar Hasan & Larry D. Wall, 2004. "Determinants of the Loan Loss Allowance: Some Cross‐Country Comparisons," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 129-152, February.
    14. Kim, Daesik & Santomero, Anthony M., 1993. "Forecasting required loan loss reserves," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(3-4), pages 315-329.
    15. Beatty, A & Chamberlain, Sl & Magliolo, J, 1995. "Managing Financial Reports Of Commercial-Banks - The Influence Of Taxes, Regulatory Capital, And Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 231-261.
    16. Felix J. Lopez Iturriaga, 2005. "Debt ownership structure and legal system: an international analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 355-365.
    17. Rolf Fare & Shawna Grosskopf & William Weber, 2004. "The effect of risk-based capital requirements on profit efficiency in banking," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(15), pages 1731-1743.
    18. Moyer, Susan E., 1990. "Capital adequacy ratio regulations and accounting choices in commercial banks," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 123-154, July.
    19. Timothy W. Koch & Larry D. Wall, 1999. "Banks' discretionary loan loss provisions: how important are constraints and asymmetries?," Proceedings 618, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Xian & Xiong, Qiyue, 2015. "Bank capital buffer decisions under macroeconomic fluctuations: Evidence for the banking industry of China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 30-39.
    2. Wu, Meng-Wen & Shen, Chung-Hua & Lu, Chin-Hwa, 2015. "Do more foreign strategic investors and more directors improve the earnings smoothing? The case of China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 3-16.
    3. Jia-Ching Juo, 2014. "Decomposing the change in profit of Taiwanese banks: incorporating risk," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 247-262, April.

    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. Aristei, David & Gallo, Manuela, 2019. "Loan loss provisioning by Italian banks: Managerial discretion, relationship banking, functional distance and bank risk," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 238-256.
    2. Emrah Arbak, 2017. "Identifying the provisioning policies of Belgian banks," Working Paper Research 326, National Bank of Belgium.
    3. Cummings, James R. & Durrani, Kassim J., 2016. "Effect of the Basel Accord capital requirements on the loan-loss provisioning practices of Australian banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 23-36.
    4. Bornemann, Sven & Pfingsten, Andreas & Kick, Thomas & Schertler, Andrea, 2014. "Earnings baths by bank CEOs during turnovers," Discussion Papers 05/2014, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    5. Bornemann, Sven & Kick, Thomas & Pfingsten, Andreas & Schertler, Andrea, 2015. "Earnings baths by CEOs during turnovers: empirical evidence from German savings banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 188-201.
    6. Dermine, J. & Neto de Carvalho, C., 2008. "Bank loan-loss provisioning, central bank rules vs. estimation: The case of Portugal," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 1-22, April.
    7. Noor Hashim & Weijia Li & John O'Hanlon, 2019. "Reflections on the development of the FASB’s and IASB’s expected-loss methods of accounting for credit losses," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 682-725, September.
    8. Emrah Arbak, 2017. "Identifying the provisioning policies of Belgian banks," Working Paper Research 326, National Bank of Belgium.
    9. Ignacio Ferrero & Alejo José G. Sison, 2012. "A Survey on Virtue in Business and Management (1980-2011)," Faculty Working Papers 06/12, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    10. Domikowsky, Christian & Bornemann, Sven & Duellmann, Klaus & Pfingsten, Andreas, 2014. "Loan loss provisioning and procyclicality: Evidence from an expected loss model," Discussion Papers 39/2014, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    11. Ozili, Peterson K, 2017. "Bank Loan Loss Provisions Research: A Review," MPRA Paper 76495, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Ricardo Schechtman & Tony Takeda, 2018. "Capital (and Earnings) Incentives for Loan Loss Provisions in Brazil: evidence from a crisis-buffering regulatory intervention," Working Papers Series 477, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    13. Daniel Perez & Vicente Salas-Fumas & Jesus Saurina, 2008. "Earnings and Capital Management in Alternative Loan Loss Provision Regulatory Regimes," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 423-445.
    14. Małgorzata Olszak & Mateusz Pipień & Iwona Kowalska & Sylwia Roszkowska, 2017. "What Drives Heterogeneity of Cyclicality of Loan-Loss Provisions in the EU?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-96, February.
    15. Dung Viet Tran & M. Kabir Hassan & Reza Houston, 2020. "Discretionary loan loss provision behavior in the US banking industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 605-645, August.
    16. Mi Joo Lee & In Tae Hwang & Sun Min Kang, 2020. "The Effect of Forward‐looking Criteria and IFRS on the Informativeness of Banks’ Loan Loss Allowances: Evidence from Korea," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 30(2), pages 85-104, June.
    17. Manuela M. Dantas & Kenneth J. Merkley & Felipe B. G. Silva, 2023. "Government Guarantees and Banks’ Income Smoothing," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 123-173, April.
    18. Balboa, Marina & López-Espinosa, Germán & Rubia, Antonio, 2013. "Nonlinear dynamics in discretionary accruals: An analysis of bank loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5186-5207.
    19. Abdullah Mamun & Md Didarul Alam & George Tannous, 2019. "Did the regulatory changes of 1999 and 2001 affect income smoothing behavior of US banks?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1011-1041, May.
    20. Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina & María Pilar García-Alcober & Manuel Illueca, 2019. "Profit efficiency and earnings quality: Evidence from the Spanish banking industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 153-174, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:v:43:y:2011:i:21:p:2811-2822. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.