Abstract: The regulation of financial markets and banking industry has become one of the most discussed topics by both academics and practitioners in recent years. One of the reason is the fact that bank capital requirements play a prominent role in sustaining financial stability. There are different theories that have rivaling predictions about how banks adjust their risk and capital behavior to imposed regulatory constraints. This paper intends to contribute to these discussions as it tries to evaluate regulatory pressure on selected banks around the world in the 2000-2005 period. To our knowledge, we are the first to test and compare the capital and risk behavior of US banks and banks from the EU 15 region in this period. In order to provide our analysis, we estimate a modified version of the simultaneous equations model developed by Shrieves and Dahl. This model analyzes adjustments in capital and risk at banks when they approach the minimum regulatory capital level. In the model, regulatory pressure is one of the explanatory variables and the dependent variables are changes in risk and capital. There are many methods that can be used to estimate the model; we have chosen the method of two-stage least squares (2SLS) and three-stage least squares (3SLS) estimates in order to test for the robustness of the results. The results indicate that regulatory requirements have the desired effect on bank behavior. We find that both European and US banks close to the minimum regulatory threshold tend to increase their capital adequacy by increasing their capital. Finally, we observe a positive and significant relationship between capital levels and risk exposure for both US and EU banks.

Abstract: While the form of crises may change, their essence remains the same (e.g. a cycle of abundant liquidity, rapid credit growth, and a low-inflation environment followed by an asset-price bubble). The current market turbulence began in mid-2000s when the US economy shifted to an imbalanced macroeconomic position. By 2007, mounting defaults in the US sub-prime mortgage market led to US market instability, unleashing a global fiscal contagion that spread around the world, roiling markets and causing world economic upheaval. This contagion led to, for example, the nationalization of big financial institutions, bank failures, the end of an era in investment banking, increased federal insurance on banking deposits, government bailouts and opportunistic investments by sovereign wealth funds. In this paper, we discuss the history, macroeconomic conditions, and milestones of the US mortgage crisis that later resulted in the global liquidity and credit shortages. We also describe key investment banking and risk management practices that exacerbated the impact of the crisis, such as relying on an originate-to-distribute model, risk-shifting, securitization techniques, ratings processes and the use of off-balance sheet vehicles. Moreover, we address key lessons for risk management derived from the current crisis and recommend policies that should help diminish the negative impact of future potential crises.

Abstract: The paper deals with one of credit derivatives – credit default swaps (CDS). These exotic financial instruments also have contributed to the financial crisis. In this paper we define CDS and its basic characteristic, advantages and disadvantages of CDS that materialized during the global financial crisis. The aim of this paper is to propose suitable changes of the CDS market and predict its future development.

Článek akceptován dne 11.1.2011 k publikaci po menších úpravách.