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When time is not on our side: The costs of regulatory forbearance in the closure of insolvent banks

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  • Cole, Rebel A.
  • White, Lawrence J.

Abstract

In this paper, we empirically estimate the costs of delay in the FDIC's closures of 433 commercial banks between 2007 and 2014 based upon a counterfactual closure regime. We find that the costs of delay could have been as high as $18.5 billion, or 37% of the FDIC's estimated costs of closure of $49.8 billion. We think that these findings call for a more aggressive stance by bank regulators with respect to the provisions for loan losses and write-downs of banks’ non-performing assets. More aggressive (and earlier) provisions and write-downs, or adoption of a capital ratio that penalizes nonperforming loans, would allow the concept of “prompt corrective action” (PCA) to play the role that it was meant to play in reducing FDIC losses from insolvent banks.

Suggested Citation

  • Cole, Rebel A. & White, Lawrence J., 2017. "When time is not on our side: The costs of regulatory forbearance in the closure of insolvent banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 235-249.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:80:y:2017:i:c:p:235-249
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2017.03.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Martynova, Natalya & Perotti, Enrico C. & Suárez, Javier, 2020. "Bank capital forbearance and serial gambling," Discussion Papers 56/2020, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    2. Sana Zidi & Boutheina Regaieg & Nessrine Hamzaoui, 2021. "The Determinants of the European Banking Crisis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 11(4), pages 115-122.
    3. Abedifar, Pejman & Abdollahzadeh, Morteza & Tarazi, Amine & White, Lawrence J., 2024. "The sale of failed banks: The importance of their branch networks and of the acquirers’ financial strength," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Kostrov, Alexander & Mamonov, Mikhail, 2019. "The formation of hidden negative capital in banking: A product mismatch hypothesis," BOFIT Discussion Papers 6/2019, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    5. Sergio A. Correia & Stephan Luck & Emil Verner, 2025. "Supervising Failing Banks," Working Paper 25-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    6. Martynova, Natalya & Perotti, Enrico & Suarez, Javier, 2022. "Capital forbearance in the bank recovery and resolution game," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(3), pages 884-904.
    7. Natalya Martynova & Enrico Perotti & Javier Suarez, 2019. "Bank Capital Forbearance," Working Papers wp2019_1908, CEMFI.
    8. Mikhail Mamonov, 2023. "Measuring Fraud in Banking and its Impact on the Economy: A Quasi-Natural Experiment," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp755, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    9. 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.
    10. Ahn, Jae Hwan & Han, Jung Seung & Choi, Hoyong, 2025. "The impact of regulatory design change on financial reporting outcomes: Evidence from a Quasi-natural experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. Kostrov, Alexander & Mamonov, Mikhail, 2019. "The formation of hidden negative capital in banking : A product mismatch hypothesis," BOFIT Discussion Papers 6/2019, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    12. John Kandrac & Bernd Schlusche, 2017. "The Effect of Bank Supervision on Risk Taking : Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-079, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    13. Fang, Cao & Yeager, Timothy J., 2020. "A historical loss approach to community bank stress testing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    14. Balla, Eliana & Mazur, Laurel C. & Prescott, Edward Simpson & Walter, John R., 2019. "A comparison of community bank failures and FDIC losses in the 1986–92 and 2007–13 banking crises," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-15.
    15. Shy, Oz, 2025. "Faster bank runs," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    16. Igan, Deniz & Lambert, Thomas & Wagner, Wolf & Zhang, Eden Quxian, 2022. "Winning connections? Special interests and the sale of failed banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    17. Ioannis Malandrakis & Konstantinos Drakos, 2025. "Green banks versus non‐green banks: A financial stability comparative analysis in terms of CAMEL ratios," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 2536-2573, July.
    18. John Gallemore, 2023. "Bank financial reporting opacity and regulatory intervention," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1765-1810, September.

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    JEL classification:

    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation
    • 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

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