ARTICLES ACADÉMIQUES ACADEMIC ARTICLES Assurances et gestion des risques, vol. 75(4), janvier 2008, 459-485 Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 75(4), January 2008, 459-485 Bank Capital, Securitization and Credit Risk: an Empirical Evidence by Georges Dionne and Tarek M. Harchaoui ABSTRACT This paper is one of the first attempts to conduct an empirical investigation of the relationship between bank capital, securitization and bank risk-taking in a con- text of the rapid growth in off-balance-sheet activities. The data come from the Canadian financial sector. Evidence from the 1988-1998 period indicates that: (a) securitization has a negative statistical link with both current Tier 1 and Total risk- based capital ratios, and (b) there exists a positive statistical link between securi- tization and bank risk-taking. Profit-risk measure is more sensitive than loss-risk measure to the variation in securitization activity. These results seem to agree, during the studied period, with models indicating that banks might be induced to shift to more risky assets under the current capital requirements for credit risk because the regulatory capital levels are considered too high. Keywords: Securitization, credit risk, capital regulation, Canadian financial sector, bank regulation. JEL classification: G18, G21, G28. The authors: Georges Dionne (corresponding author), Canada Research Chair in Risk Management, HEC Montréal, Montreal, Canada, H3T 2A7, CIRRELT, and CREF. Telephone: 514 340-6596. Fax: 514 340-5019. E-mail address:
[email protected] Tarek M. Harchaoui, Statistics Canada, Microeconomic analysis Division, R.H. Coats 18-F, Ottawa, Canada, K1A 0T6. E-mail address:
[email protected] Research assistance from Rachid Aqdim and Philippe Bergevin is acknowledged.