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Is window dressing by banks systemically important?

Author

Listed:
  • Luis Garcia
  • Ulf Lewrick
  • Taja Sečnik

Abstract

We study banks' year-end window dressing in the European Union to assess how it affects the identification of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) and the associated capital surcharges. We find that G-SIBs compress their balance sheet at year-end to an extent that they can reduce their surcharges or avoid G-SIB designation altogether. G-SIBs use several levers to adjust their balance sheets. Most notably, they compress intra-financial system assets and liabilities as well as their derivative books at year-end. Moreover, G-SIBs that are more tightly constrained by capital requirements window dress more than their peers. Our findings underscore the importance of supervisory judgement in the assessment of G-SIBs and call for greater use of average as opposed to point-in-time data to measure banks' systemic importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Garcia & Ulf Lewrick & Taja Sečnik, 2021. "Is window dressing by banks systemically important?," BIS Working Papers 960, Bank for International Settlements.
    • Handle: RePEc:bis:biswps:960
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vladimir Kotomin & Drew Winters, 2006. "Quarter-End Effects in Banks: Preferred Habitat or Window Dressing?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 29(1), pages 61-82, February.
    2. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    3. Jihad Dagher & Giovanni Dell'Ariccia & Luc Laeven & Massimo Lev Ratnovski & Massimo Hui Tong, 2020. "Bank Capital: A Seawall Approach," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 16(2), pages 249-291, March.
    4. Goel, Tirupam & Lewrick, Ulf & Mathur, Aakriti, 2021. "Does regulation only bite the less profitable? Evidence from the too-big-to-fail reforms," Bank of England working papers 946, Bank of England.
    5. Aurélien Violon & Dominique Durant & Oana Toader, 2020. "The Impact of the Designation of Global Systemically Important Banks on Their Business Model," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 16(5), pages 95-142, October.
    6. Allen, Linda & Saunders, Anthony, 1992. "Bank window dressing: Theory and evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 585-623, June.
    7. Benjamin Munyan, 2015. "Regulatory Arbitrage in the Repo Market," Working Papers 15-22, Office of Financial Research, US Department of the Treasury.
    8. Tirupam Goel & Ulf Lewrick & Aakriti Mathur, 2019. "Playing it safe: global systemically important banks after the crisis," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    9. Grill, Michael & Jakovicka, Julija & Lambert, Claudia & Nicoloso, Pascal & Steininger, Lea & Wedow, Michael, 2017. "Recent Developments in Euro Area Repo Markets, Regulatory Reforms and their Impact on Repo Market Functioning," Financial Stability Review, European Central Bank, vol. 2.
    10. Markus Behn & Giacomo Mangiante & Laura Parisi & Michael Wedow, 2022. "Behind the Scenes of the Beauty Contest—Window Dressing and the G-SIB Framework," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(5), pages 1-42, December.
    11. Wayne Passmore & Alexander H. von Hafften, 2019. "Are Basel's Capital Surcharges for Global Systemically Important Banks Too Small?," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 15(1), pages 107-156, March.
    12. Hoag, Christopher, 2016. "National bank window dressing and the call loan market, 1865–1872," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 94-102.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gong, Di & Huizinga, Harry & Li, Tianshi & Zhu, Jigao, 2023. "Goodhart’s law in China: Bank branching regulation and window dressing," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Baltzer, Markus & Schlepper, Kathi & Speck, Christian, 2022. "The Eurosystem's asset purchase programmes, securities lending and Bund specialness," Discussion Papers 39/2022, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    3. Bryan Hardy & Sonya Zhu, 2023. "Unpacking international banks' deposit funding," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    systemically important bank; systemic risks; regulatory arbitrage; financial stability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • 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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