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The Review of Corporate Finance Studies Vol. 10 No. 4 2021

Effect of the Equity Capital Ratio on the Relationship between Competition and Bank Risk-Taking Behavior

Jia Hao1; Kuncheng Zheng2

1 Babson College · 2 Northeastern University

Abstract

We examine how the relationship between competition and risk-taking changes with the ex ante bank equity capital ratio. We show that competition in the banking market, on average, mitigates risk-taking by banks. This relationship, however, can be altered by a bank’s ex ante equity capital ratio. More specifically, when face with increased competition, banks with low ex ante equity capital ratios engage in relatively larger reductions in risk-taking. They do so primarily by decreasing the risk in their lending portfolios. In contrast, banks with high enough ex ante equity capital ratios might not reduce their risk-taking at all.

DOI
10.1093/rcfs/cfab009
Volume
10
Issue
4
Pages
813-855
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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