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Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 140 2022

Winning connections? Special interests and the sale of failed banks

Deniz Igan1,2; Thomas Lambert3; Wolf Wagner1,3; Eden Quxian Zhang4

1 Centre for Economic Policy Research · 2 Bank for International Settlements · 3 Erasmus University Rotterdam · 4 Monash University

open access

Abstract

We study how banks’ special interests affect the resolution of failed banks. Using a sample of FDIC auctions between 2007 and 2016, we find that bidding banks that lobby regulators have a higher probability of winning an auction. However, the FDIC incurs larger costs in such auctions, amounting to 24.8 percent of the total resolution losses. We also show that lobbying winners match less well with acquired banks and display worse post-acquisition performance than their non-lobbying counterparts, suggesting that lobbying interferes with an efficient allocation of failed banks. Our results provide new insights into the bank resolution process and the role of special interests.

DOI
10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106496
Volume
140
Pages
106496
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib

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