Interwencje rządowe w sektorze bankowym a stabilność sektora finansowego
Government Interventions in the Banking Sector and the Stability of the Financial Sector

Summary/Abstract: Financial crises place enormous pressure on national governments to intervene. The recent estimates from the financial crisis of 2007–2010 suggest that government interventions may cost 100 trillion US dollars in the world. An increasing attention has been drawn to the negative long-run impact of government interventions on banks’ behavior and the stability of the financial sector. Theoretical studies suggest that such government actions may result in an increased risk in the banking sector, destroying its long-run stability and imposing the danger of the next financial crisis, since they lead to the increased appearance of the phenomenon called ‘moral hazard’. However, there is no sufficient empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. This paper attempts to fill the existing gap by examining the banks’ resolution policies recommended in the World Bank Report (2012). Specifically, the paper examines the link between various government bailout programs and the level of risk in the banking sector in 24 countries over the period of 1991–2003. The author analyzes the behavior of 110 institutions which received any government support during the financial crisis in the given country, and compares it several years afterwards to the risk profile of the banks which were not covered by such interventions. The results of the analysis show that government interventions are strongly correlated with subsequent increased risk taking in the banking sector. In particular, blanket guarantees and capital assistance programs in the form of nationalizations and restructuring funds exert the greatest impact on all banks’ risk measures. The results of the analysis suggest that the use of market forces and regulations strengthening market discipline should best promote the performance and stability of the banking sector in the long run, by reducing the scope of misuses and mistakes made by the protected institutions. On the other hand, government involvement in the banking sector would destroy the incentive system, encouraging the banks to undertake increased risk.

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