IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v25y2018icp239-243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Loan loss provisions and macroeconomic shocks: Some empirical evidence for italian banks during the crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Caporale, Guglielmo Maria
  • Alessi, Matteo
  • Di Colli, Stefano
  • Lopez, Juan Sergio

Abstract

This paper uses data from a panel of more than 400 Italian banks for the period 2001–2015 to examine the main determinants of loan loss provision (LLP), which are classified as either discretionary (income smoothing, capital management, signalling) or non-discretionary (related to the business cycle). The possible effects of the double-dip recession of 2008–9 and 2011–15 are also examined. The results suggest that LLP in Italian banks is countercyclical, with non-discretionary components and macroeconomic shocks playing a significant role. Moreover, LLP is less cyclical in the case of local banks, since their loans are more collateralised and their behaviour is more strongly affected by supervisory activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Alessi, Matteo & Di Colli, Stefano & Lopez, Juan Sergio, 2018. "Loan loss provisions and macroeconomic shocks: Some empirical evidence for italian banks during the crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 239-243.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:25:y:2018:i:c:p:239-243
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2017.10.031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612317303471
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2017.10.031?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. Ferri, G. & Mattesini, F., 1997. "Finance, Human Capital and Infrastructure: An Empirical Investigation of Post-War Italian Growth," Papers 321, Banca Italia - Servizio di Studi.
    2. Bouvatier, Vincent & Lepetit, Laetitia & Strobel, Frank, 2014. "Bank income smoothing, ownership concentration and the regulatory environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 253-270.
    3. Bouvatier, Vincent & Lepetit, Laetitia, 2008. "Banks' procyclical behavior: Does provisioning matter?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 513-526, December.
    4. Bouvatier, Vincent & Lepetit, Laetitia & Strobel, Frank, 2014. "Bank income smoothing, ownership concentration and the regulatory environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 253-270.
    5. Fonseca, Ana Rosa & González, Francisco, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of bank income smoothing by managing loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 217-228, February.
    6. Frank Packer & Haibin Zhu, 2012. "Loan loss provisioning practices of Asian banks," BIS Working Papers 375, Bank for International Settlements.
    7. 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.
    8. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    9. Beaver, William H. & Engel, Ellen E., 1996. "Discretionary behavior with respect to allowances for loan losses and the behavior of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 177-206, October.
    10. Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J. & Yang, Dong-Hoon, 2005. "Determinants of signaling by banks through loan loss provisions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 312-320, March.
    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. Ghosh, Saibal, 2022. "Financial inclusion and banking stability: Does interest rate repression matter?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    2. Skała, Dorota, 2021. "Loan loss provisions and income smoothing – Do shareholders matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Elizabeth J. Casabianca, 2020. "Credit Supply Response to Non-Performing Loans: Some Evidence From the Italian Banking System," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 10(4), pages 1-3.
    4. 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.
    5. Ozili, Peterson K, 2019. "Bank loan loss provisioning during election years in Nigeria," MPRA Paper 96704, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Ozili, Peterson K, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty, bank nonperforming loans and loan loss provisions: are they correlated?," MPRA Paper 112381, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Hessou, Hélyoth T.S. & Lensink, Robert & Soumaré, Issouf & Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2021. "Provisioning over the business cycle: Some insights from the microfinance industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. Albulena Shala & Valentin Toçi & Skender Ahmeti, 2020. "Income smoothing through loan loss provisions in south and Eastern European banks," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 38(2), pages 429-452.
    9. Ozili, Peterson K, 2020. "Bank loan loss provisioning during election years: cross-country evidence," MPRA Paper 96639, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ozili, Peterson K, 2022. "Bank income smoothing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from UK Banks," MPRA Paper 115782, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Ozili, Peterson Kitakogelu & Adamu, Ahmed, 2021. "Does financial inclusion reduce non-performing loans and loan loss provisions?," MPRA Paper 109321, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Matteo Alessi & Stefano Di Colli & Juan Sergio Lopez, 2015. "Loan Loss Provision: Some Empirical Evidence for Italian Banks," CESifo Working Paper Series 5253, CESifo.
    2. Peterson, Ozili K. & Arun, Thankom G., 2018. "Income smoothing among European systemic and non-systemic banks," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(5), pages 539-558.
    3. Ali Ashraf & M. Kabir Hassan & Kyle J. Putnam & Arja Turunen-Red, 2019. "Prudential Regulatory Regimes, Accounting Standards, And Earnings Management In The Banking Industry," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 21(3), pages 1-28, January.
    4. Doan, Anh-Tuan & Lin, Kun-Li & Doong, Shuh-Chyi, 2020. "State-controlled banks and income smoothing. Do politics matter?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Simper, Richard & Dadoukis, Aristeidis & Bryce, Cormac, 2019. "European bank loan loss provisioning and technological innovative progress," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 119-130.
    6. Curcio, Domenico & De Simone, Antonio & Gallo, Angela, 2017. "Financial crisis and international supervision: New evidence on the discretionary use of loan loss provisions at Euro Area commercial banks," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 181-193.
    7. 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.
    8. Tito Tomas Siueia & Jianling Wang, 2017. "Loan Loss Provisions, Income Smooth, Signaling, Capital Management and Pro-Cyclicality: Empirical Evidence from Mozambique¡¯s Commercial Banks," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(11), pages 48-63, November.
    9. Ozili, Peterson K, 2015. "Loan Loss Provisioning, Income Smoothing, Signaling, Capital Management and Procyclicality: Does IFRS Matter? Empirical Evidence from Nigeria," MPRA Paper 68350, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Wahyoe Soedarmono & Amine Tarazi & Agusman Agusman & Gary S. Monroe & Dominic Gasbarro, 2016. "Loan Loss Provisions and Lending Behavior of Banks: Do Information Sharing and Borrower Legal Rights Matter?," Working Papers hal-01316717, HAL.
    11. Ozili, Peterson K, 2017. "Bank Loan Loss Provisions Research: A Review," MPRA Paper 76495, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Balla, Eliana & Rose, Morgan J., 2015. "Loan loss provisions, accounting constraints, and bank ownership structure," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 92-117.
    13. Olszak, Małgorzata & Pipień, Mateusz & Kowalska, Iwona & Roszkowska, Sylwia, 2014. "What drives heterogeneity of loan loss provisions’ procyclicality in the EU?," MPRA Paper 56834, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Zainuldin, Mohd Haniff & Lui, Tze Kiat, 2020. "Earnings management in financial institutions: A comparative study of Islamic banks and conventional banks in emerging markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Ozili, Peterson K, 2017. "Bank Loan Loss Provisions, Investor Protection and the Macroeconomy," MPRA Paper 80147, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ozili, Peterson K, 2019. "Bank loan loss provisions, risk-taking and bank intangibles," MPRA Paper 90273, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. 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.
    18. Lassoued, Naima & Attia, Mouna Ben Rejeb & Sassi, Houda, 2018. "Earnings management in islamic and conventional banks: Does ownership structure matter? Evidence from the MENA region," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 85-105.
    19. Malgorzata Olszak & Patrycja Chodnicka-Jaworska & Iwona Kowalska & Filip Œwita³a, 2017. "The effect of capital ratio on lending: Do loan-loss provisioning practices matter?," Faculty of Management Working Paper Series 22017, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management.
    20. Malgorzata Olszak & Mateusz Pipien & Sylwia Roszkowska & Iwona Kowalska, 2014. "The effects of capital on bank lending in large EU banks – the role of procyclicality, income smoothing, regulations and supervision," Faculty of Management Working Paper Series 52014, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Loan loss provision; Bank lending; Financial system cyclicality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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

    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:eee:finlet:v:25:y:2018:i:c:p:239-243. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.