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Bankers' pay and excessive risk

Author

Listed:
  • Thanassoulis, John

    (Bank of England)

  • Tanaka, Misa

    (Bank of England)

Abstract

This paper studies the agency problem between bank management, shareholders, and the taxpayer. Executive bonuses increase in the probability the bank is too big to fail. Bank management recognise it is very likely optimal to select risky projects which exploit the taxpayer, implying project selection effort (eg due diligence) is more expensive to incentivise. This agency problem leads to too much risk for society, not for shareholders. Compensation rules aimed at solving management-shareholder agency problems — equity pay, deferred, including debt — do not correct the excessive risk taking. By contrast, malus and clawbacks can incentivise the bank management to make better risk choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Thanassoulis, John & Tanaka, Misa, 2015. "Bankers' pay and excessive risk," Bank of England working papers 558, Bank of England.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:boeewp:0558
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Eufinger & Andrej Gill, 2017. "Incentive-Based Capital Requirements," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(12), pages 4101-4113, December.
    2. Samuel Mwangi Kiemo & Tobias O. Olweny & Willy M. Muturi & Lucy W. Mwangi, 2019. "Bank-Specific Determinants of Commercial Banks Financial Stability in Kenya," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(1), pages 1-5.
    3. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_005 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jokivuolle, Esa & Keppo, Jussi & Yuan, Xuchuan, 2015. "Bonus caps, deferrals and bankers' risk-taking," Research Discussion Papers 5/2015, Bank of Finland.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Executive compensation; bankers bonuses; risk-taking; financial regulation; return on equity; clawback; deferral;
    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
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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