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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 160 2024

The cross-border effects of bank capital regulation

Saleem Bahaj1,2,3; Frédéric Malherbe1,2

1 Centre for Economic Policy Research · 2 University College London · 3 Bank of England

Abstract

We study the international coordination of bank capital requirements under a host-country rule: the requirement depends on where the borrower, not the bank, is located. In such a regime, countries compete for scarce bank equity capital. Raising a country’s requirement may generate bank capital outflows as well as inflows. We pin down the condition for the sign of the capital flow and the associated externality, and highlight the policy implications. Absent collaboration, overshooting is likely: individual countries have an incentive to increase Basel III’s Counter-Cyclical Capital Buffer too much in good times and cut it too much in bad times.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2024.103912
Volume
160
Pages
103912
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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