The Effect Of Covid 19 On Loan Loss Provisions And Earnings Management Of European Banks

This book examines the effect of Covid-19 on loan loss provisions (LLPs) and earnings management of European banks. Specifically, the author analyzes how the high flexibility offered by prudential authorities and standard setters in the context of Covid-19 affects banks’ use of discretion when accounting for loan loss provisions. She finds that during Covid-19 banks use discretionary LLPs to a greater extent than before Covid-19. This trend is more evident for banks located in countries that have implemented strong containment measures as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, while banks tend to overstate LLPs at the beginning of the pandemic, they do, on average, understate them during 2021. Finally, examining the direction of earnings management the author finds that during Covid-19 banks use upward earnings management, whereas before Covid-19 they engage in downward earnings management.

This paper evaluates the impact of the crisis on European banks’ capital under a range of macroeconomic scenarios, using granular data on the size and riskiness of sectoral exposures. The analysis incorporates the important role of pandemic-related policy support, including not only regulatory relief for banks, but also policies to support businesses and households, which act to shield the financial sector from the real economic shock.

Near-term global financial stability risks have been contained as an unprecedented policy response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has helped avert a financial meltdown and maintain the flow of credit to the economy. For the first time, many emerging market central banks have launched asset purchase programs to support the smooth functioning of financial markets and the overall economy. But the outlook remains highly uncertain, and vulnerabilities are rising, representing potential headwinds to recovery. The report presents an assessment of the real-financial disconnect, as well as forward-looking analysis of nonfinancial firms, banks, and emerging market capital flows. After the outbreak, firms’ cash flows were adversely affected as economic activity declined sharply. More vulnerable firms—those with weaker solvency and liquidity positions and smaller size—experienced greater financial stress than their peers in the early stages of the crisis. As the crisis unfolds, corporate liquidity pressures may morph into insolvencies, especially if the recovery is delayed. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more vulnerable than large firms with access to capital markets. Although the global banking system is well capitalized, some banking systems may experience capital shortfalls in an adverse scenario, even with the currently deployed policy measures. The report also assesses the pandemic’s impact on firms’ environmental performance to gauge the extent to which the crisis may result in a reversal of the gains posted in recent years.

The New Digital Era’s two volumes vitally generate new information in order to determine the advantages and risks in which areas this digitalization, which has increased with the COVID-19 pandemic.

This proceedings book showcases papers presented at the 2022 Rethinking Management and Economics in the (New) 20s conference in Leiria, Portugal. Rethinking Management and Economics in the (New) 20’s is focused on the investigation of key challenges and perspectives of Management and Economics. The chapters in this book explore new avenues of research and cover theoretical, empirical, and experimental studies related to different themes in the global context of Management and Economics. This book contributes towards deepening our understanding of what the new problems associated with achieving the goals of management and Economics in the 2020s and present possible solutions to the problems. This book is ideal for economists, businesses, managers, accountants, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students who are interested in the current issues and advancements in corporate governance and earnings management.

Ratings, Rating Agencies and the Global Financial System brings together the research of economists at New York University and the University of Maryland, along with those from the private sector, government bodies, and other universities. The first section of the volume focuses on the historical origins of the credit rating business and its present day industrial organization structure. The second section presents several empirical studies crafted largely around individual firm-level or bank-level data. These studies examine (a) the relationship between ratings and the default and recovery experience of corporate borrowers, (b) the comparability of credit ratings made by domestic and foreign rating agencies, and (c) the usefulness of financial market indicators for rating banks, among other topics. In the third section, the record of sovereign credit ratings in predicting financial crises and the reaction of financial markets to changes in credit ratings is examined. The final section of the volume emphasizes policy issues now facing regulators and credit rating agencies.

Europe’s banking system is weighed down by high levels of non-performing loans (NPLs), which are holding down credit growth and economic activity. This discussion note uses a new survey of European country authorities and banks to examine the structural obstacles that discourage banks from addressing their problem loans. A three pillared strategy is advocated to remedy the situation, comprising: (i) tightened supervisory policies, (ii) insolvency reforms, and (iii) the development of distressed debt markets.