Discussion paper

DP13907 Stress Testing and Bank Lending

Bank stress tests are a major form of regulatory oversight. Banks respond to the toughness of the tests by changing their lending behavior. Regulators care about bank lending; therefore, banks' reactions to the tests affect the tests' design and create a feedback loop. We demonstrate that stress tests may be (1) soft, in order to encourage lending in the future, or (2) tough, in order to deter excessive risk-taking in the future. There may be multiple equilibria due to strategic complementarity. Regulators may strategically delay stress tests. We also analyze bottom-up stress tests and banking supervision exams.

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Citation

Shapiro, J and J Zeng (2019), ‘DP13907 Stress Testing and Bank Lending‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 13907. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp13907