IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v11y2018i4p77-d179994.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Rising Complexity of Bank Regulatory Capital Requirements: From Global Guidelines to their United States (US) Implementation

Author

Listed:
  • James R. Barth

    (Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA)

  • Stephen Matteo Miller

    (Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA)

Abstract

After the Latin American Debt Crisis of 1982, the official response worldwide turned to minimum capital standards to promote stable banking systems. Despite their existence, however, such standards have still not prevented periodic disruptions in the banking sectors of various countries. After the 2007–2009 crisis, bank capital requirements have, in some cases, increased and overall have become even more complex. This paper reviews (1) how Basel-style capital adequacy guidelines have evolved, becoming higher in some cases and overall more complex, (2) how the United States (US) implementation of these guidelines has contributed to regulatory complexity, even when omitting other bank capital regulations that are specific to the US, and (3) how the US regulatory measures still do not provide equally valuable information about whether a bank is adequately capitalized.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:11:y:2018:i:4:p:77-:d:179994
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/11/4/77/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/11/4/77/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Enrica Detragiache & Ouarda Merrouche, 2013. "Bank Capital: Lessons from the Financial Crisis," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(6), pages 1147-1164, September.
    2. Barth, James R. & Caprio, Gerard Jr. & Levine, Ross, 2012. "Guardians of Finance: Making Regulators Work for Us," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262017393, April.
    3. Mark Egan & Ali Hortaçsu & Gregor Matvos, 2017. "Deposit Competition and Financial Fragility: Evidence from the US Banking Sector," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 169-216, January.
    4. Herring, Richard J., 2016. "Less Really Can Be More: Why Simplicity and Comparability Should be Regulatory Objectives," Working Papers 16-08, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    5. Isil Erel & Taylor Nadauld & René M. Stulz, 2014. "Why Did Holdings of Highly Rated Securitization Tranches Differ So Much across Banks?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(2), pages 404-453.
    6. Herring, Richard J., 2018. "The Evolving Complexity of Capital Regulation," Working Papers 18-01, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    7. Jones, David, 2000. "Emerging problems with the Basel Capital Accord: Regulatory capital arbitrage and related issues," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 35-58, January.
    8. Karmakar, Sudipto, 2016. "Macroprudential regulation and macroeconomic activity," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 166-178.
    9. Bordo,Michael D. & Roberds,William (ed.), 2013. "The Origins, History, and Future of the Federal Reserve," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107013728, September.
    10. Hogan, Thomas L., 2015. "Capital and risk in commercial banking: A comparison of capital and risk-based capital ratios," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 32-45.
    11. Richard J. Herring, 2018. "The Evolving Complexity of Capital Regulation," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 53(2), pages 183-205, June.
    12. Brian S. Chen & Samuel G. Hanson & Jeremy C. Stein, 2017. "The Decline of Big-Bank Lending to Small Business: Dynamic Impacts on Local Credit and Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 23843, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Acharya, Viral & Engle, Robert & Pierret, Diane, 2014. "Testing macroprudential stress tests: The risk of regulatory risk weights," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 36-53.
    14. Mark J. Flannery, 2014. "Maintaining Adequate Bank Capital," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(s1), pages 157-180, February.
    15. Merton, Robert C., 1995. "Financial innovation and the management and regulation of financial institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 461-481, June.
    16. 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.
    17. Stephen Matteo Miller, 2018. "The recourse rule, regulatory arbitrage, and the financial crisis," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 195-217, October.
    18. Richard J. Herring, 2016. "Less Really Can be More: Why Simplicity & Comparability Should be Regulatory Objectives," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 44(1), pages 33-50, March.
    19. Richard Brealey, 2006. "Basel II: The Route Ahead or Cul‐de‐Sac?," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 18(4), pages 34-43, September.
    20. Begenau, Juliane & Landvoigt, Tim, 2017. "Financial Regulation in a Quantitative Model of the Modern Banking System," Research Papers 3558, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    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. Peter Zweifel, 2021. "Solvency Regulation—An Assessment of Basel III for Banks and of Planned Solvency III for Insurers," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Thomas L. Hogan, 2021. "A Review of the Regulatory Impact Analysis of Risk-Based Capital and Related Liquidity Rules," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29, January.
    3. James R. Barth, 2019. "Regulatory Responses by Countries to Banking/Financial Crises," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-6, December.
    4. Baik, Hyeoncheol & Han, Sumin & Joo, Sunghoon & Lee, Kangbok, 2022. "A bank's optimal capital ratio: A time-varying parameter model to the partial adjustment framework," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    5. Miller, Steph & Hoarty, Blake, 2020. "On Regulation and Excess Reserves: The Case of Basel III," Working Papers 10243, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    6. Chenzi Yang & Fernando Moreira & Thomas Welsh Archibald, 2023. "Community banks' capital requirements and regional housing tenure," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 723-746, December.
    7. Michael McAleer, 2020. "Review Papers for Journal of Risk and Financial Management ( JRFM )," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-4, August.
    8. Stephen Matteo Miller & Blake Hoarty, 2021. "On regulation and excess reserves: The case of Basel III," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 215-247, June.
    9. James R. Barth & Sunghoon Joo & Kang‐Bok Lee, 2022. "Bank–client cross‐ownership of bank stocks: A network analysis," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 280-312, June.

    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. Barth, James R. & Miller, Stephen Matteo, 2018. "Benefits and costs of a higher bank “leverage ratio”," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 37-52.
    2. Stephen Matteo Miller & Blake Hoarty, 2021. "On regulation and excess reserves: The case of Basel III," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 215-247, June.
    3. Thomas L. Hogan, 2021. "A Review of the Regulatory Impact Analysis of Risk-Based Capital and Related Liquidity Rules," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29, January.
    4. Stephen Matteo Miller, 2018. "The recourse rule, regulatory arbitrage, and the financial crisis," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 195-217, October.
    5. Miller, Stephen, 2017. "The Recourse Rule, Regulatory Arbitrage, and the Financial Crisis," Working Papers 03097, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    6. Miller, Steph & Hoarty, Blake, 2020. "On Regulation and Excess Reserves: The Case of Basel III," Working Papers 10243, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    7. Douglas da Rosa München & Herbert Kimura, 2020. "Regulatory Banking Leverage: what do you know?," Working Papers Series 540, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    8. Huang, Qiubin & de Haan, Jakob & Scholtens, Bert, 2020. "Does bank capitalization matter for bank stock returns?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    9. Renaud Beaupain & Yann Braouezec, 2022. "International banking regulation and Tier 1 capital ratios. On the robustness of the critical average risk weight framework," Working Papers 2022-ACF-06, IESEG School of Management.
    10. Markus Behn & Rainer Haselmann & Vikrant Vig, 2022. "The Limits of Model‐Based Regulation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(3), pages 1635-1684, June.
    11. Rainer Baule & Christian Tallau, 2016. "Revisiting Basel risk weights: cross-sectional risk sensitivity and cyclicality," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(8), pages 905-931, November.
    12. Beaupain, Renaud & Braouezec, Yann, 2024. "International banking regulation and Tier 1 capital ratios. On the robustness of the critical average risk weight framework," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Thomas L. Hogan & Neil R. Meredith, 2016. "Risk and risk-based capital of U.S. bank holding companies," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 86-112, February.
    14. W. Scott Frame & Lawrence J. White, 2009. "Technological change, financial innovation, and diffusion in banking," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2009-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    15. Delis, Manthos D. & Kim, Suk-Joong & Politsidis, Panagiotis N. & Wu, Eliza, 2021. "Regulators vs. markets: Are lending terms influenced by different perceptions of bank risk?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    16. Conlon, Thomas & Cotter, John & Molyneux, Philip, 2020. "Beyond common equity: The influence of secondary capital on bank insolvency risk," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    17. Behn, Markus & Haselmann, Rainer & Vig, Vikrant, 2014. "Risk weights, lending, and financial stability: Limits to model-based capital regulation," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100430, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. repec:ies:wpaper:f202211 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. King, Timothy & Srivastav, Abhishek & Williams, Jonathan, 2016. "What's in an education? Implications of CEO education for bank performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 287-308.
    20. Matteo Benetton, 2021. "Leverage Regulation and Market Structure: A Structural Model of the U.K. Mortgage Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 2997-3053, December.
    21. Greg Buchak & Gregor Matvos & Tomasz Piskorski & Amit Seru, 2024. "Beyond the Balance Sheet Model of Banking: Implications for Bank Regulation and Monetary Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 616-693.

    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:gam:jjrfmx:v:11:y:2018:i:4:p:77-:d:179994. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.