IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/wptemi/td_548_05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Basel Committee Approach To Risk-Weights And External Ratings: What Do We Learn From Bond Spreads?

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Resti

    (University of Milan L. Bocconi)

  • Andrea Sironi

    (University of Milan L. Bocconi)

Abstract

The Basel Committee for Banking Supervision designed a system of risk weights (the so called standardised approach) to measure the riskiness of banks� loan portfolios. Its ability to adequately reflect risk is empirically investigated in this paper, through an analysis of the economic capital allocations implied in corporate bond spreads. This is based on a unique dataset of issuance spreads, ratings and other relevant bond variables (such as maturity, face value, time of issuance and currency of denomination) including 7,232 eurobonds issued mostly by Canadian, European, Japanese and U.S. companies during 1991-2003. Three main results emerge. First, the spread/rating relationship is strongly significant with spreads increasing when ratings worsen. Second, the estimated spreads per rating class indicate that the risk/rating relationship might be steeper than the one approved by the Basel Committee. Finally the difference between the spread/rating relation of banks and non-financial firms appears quite blurred and statistically questionable. Following this empirical evidence, we underline some adjustments in the standardised approach risk-weights that might be considered for the future versions of the Basel Accord.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Resti & Andrea Sironi, 2005. "The Basel Committee Approach To Risk-Weights And External Ratings: What Do We Learn From Bond Spreads?," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 548, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_548_05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/temi-discussione/2005/2005-0548/tema_548.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gordy, Michael B., 2000. "A comparative anatomy of credit risk models," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 119-149, January.
    2. Eva Catarineu-Rabell & Patricia Jackson & Dimitrios Tsomocos, 2005. "Procyclicality and the new Basel Accord - banks’ choice of loan rating system," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 26(3), pages 537-557, October.
    3. Diana Hancock & Myron Kwast, 2001. "Using Subordinated Debt to Monitor Bank Holding Companies: Is it Feasible?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 147-187, October.
    4. 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.
    5. Berger, Allen N. & Herring, Richard J. & Szego, Giorgio P., 1995. "The role of capital in financial institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 393-430, June.
    6. Crabbe, Leland E & Turner, Christopher M, 1995. "Does the Liquidity of a Debt Issue Increase with Its Size? Evidence from the Corporate Bond and Medium-Term Note Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1719-1734, December.
    7. Mark Carey, 1998. "Credit Risk in Private Debt Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1363-1387, August.
    8. Altman, Edward I. & Saunders, Anthony, 2001. "An analysis and critique of the BIS proposal on capital adequacy and ratings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 25-46, January.
    9. Perraudin, William & Taylor, Alex P., 2004. "On the consistency of ratings and bond market yields," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 2769-2788, November.
    10. Acharya, Viral & Bharath, Sreedhar T & Srinivasan, Anand, 2003. "Understanding the Recovery Rates on Defaulted Securities," CEPR Discussion Papers 4098, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Arie Melnik & Doron Nissim, 2003. "Debt Issue Costs and Issue Characteristics in the Market for U.S. Dollar Denominated International Bonds," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 7(2), pages 277-296.
    12. Arie Melnik & Doron Nissim, 2003. "Debt issue costs and issue characteristics in the Eurobond market," ICER Working Papers 09-2003, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    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. Gonzalez, F. & Haas, F. & Johannes, R. & Persson, M. & Toledo, L. & Violi, R. & Zins, C. & Wieland, M., 2004. "Market dynamics associated with credit ratings: a literature review," Financial Stability Review, Banque de France, issue 4, pages 53-76, June.
    2. Ueda, Kenichi & Weder di Mauro, B., 2013. "Quantifying structural subsidy values for systemically important financial institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 3830-3842.
    3. Richard Davies & Belinda Tracey, 2014. "Too Big to Be Efficient? The Impact of Implicit Subsidies on Estimates of Scale Economies for Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(s1), pages 219-253, February.
    4. Patricia Palhau Mora, 2018. "The “Too Big to Fail” Subsidy in Canada: Some Estimates," Staff Working Papers 18-9, Bank of Canada.
    5. Toader, Oana, 2015. "Quantifying and explaining implicit public guarantees for European banks," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 136-147.
    6. Abaffy, J. & Bertocchi, M. & Dupacova, J. & Moriggia, V. & Consigli, G., 2007. "Pricing nondiversifiable credit risk in the corporate Eurobond market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 2233-2263, August.

    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. Resti, Andrea & Sironi, Andrea, 2007. "The risk-weights in the New Basel Capital Accord: Lessons from bond spreads based on a simple structural model," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 64-90, January.
    2. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Schuermann, Til & Treutler, Bjorn-Jakob & Weiner, Scott M., 2006. "Macroeconomic Dynamics and Credit Risk: A Global Perspective," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(5), pages 1211-1261, August.
    3. Carling, Kenneth & Rönnegård, Lars & Roszbach, Kasper, 2004. "Is Firm Interdependence within Industries Important for Portfolio Credit Risk?," Working Paper Series 168, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    4. Tor Jacobson & Jesper Lindé & Kasper Roszbach, 2013. "Firm Default And Aggregate Fluctuations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 945-972, August.
    5. Andrew Kuritzkes & Til Schuermann & Scott Weiner, 2002. "Deposit Insurance and Risk Management of the U.S. Banking System: How Much? How Safe? Who Pays?," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 02-02, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    6. Carey, Mark, 2002. "A guide to choosing absolute bank capital requirements," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 929-951, May.
    7. Carling, Kenneth & Jacobson, Tor & Lindé, Jesper & Roszbach, Kasper, 2002. "Capital Charges under Basel II: Corporate Credit Risk Modelling and the Macro Economy," Working Paper Series 142, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    8. Giampaolo Gabbi & Andrea Sironi, 2005. "Which factors affect corporate bonds pricing? Empirical evidence from eurobonds primary market spreads," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 59-74.
    9. Julian Kozlowski, 2021. "Long-Term Finance and Investment with Frictional Asset Markets," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 411-448, October.
    10. International Association of Deposit Insurers, 2011. "Evaluation of Deposit Insurance Fund Sufficiency on the Basis of Risk Analysis," IADI Research Papers 11-11, International Association of Deposit Insurers.
    11. Racheva-Sarabian, Anna & Ryvkin, Dmitry & Semykina, Anastasia, 2015. "The default of special district financing: Evidence from California," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 37-48.
    12. Claudio Borio & Craig Furfine & Philip Lowe, 2001. "Procyclicality of the financial system and financial stability: issues and policy options," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Marrying the macro- and micro-prudential dimensions of financial stability, volume 1, pages 1-57, Bank for International Settlements.
    13. Bank for International Settlements, 2011. "Portfolio and risk management for central banks and sovereign wealth funds," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 58.
    14. Varotto, Simone, 2012. "Stress testing credit risk: The Great Depression scenario," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3133-3149.
    15. Benjamin Bade & Daniel Rösch & Harald Scheule, 2011. "Default and Recovery Risk Dependencies in a Simple Credit Risk Model," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(1), pages 120-144, January.
    16. Mingo, John J., 2000. "Policy implications of the Federal Reserve study of credit risk models at major US banking institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 15-33, January.
    17. Carling, Kenneth & Jacobson, Tor & Linde, Jesper & Roszbach, Kasper, 2007. "Corporate credit risk modeling and the macroeconomy," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 845-868, March.
    18. Lützenkirchen, Kristina & Rösch, Daniel & Scheule, Harald, 2014. "Asset portfolio securitizations and cyclicality of regulatory capital," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 237(1), pages 289-302.
    19. Daniel Rösch & Harald Scheule, 2014. "Forecasting Mortgage Securitization Risk Under Systematic Risk and Parameter Uncertainty," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 81(3), pages 563-586, September.
    20. Daniel Rösch & Harald Scheule, 2011. "Securitization rating performance and agency incentives," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Portfolio and risk management for central banks and sovereign wealth funds, volume 58, pages 287-314, Bank for International Settlements.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    eurobonds; credit ratings; spreads; capital regulation; banks.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • 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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:bdi:wptemi:td_548_05. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    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.