Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/144444 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
NBB Working Paper No. 232
Publisher: 
National Bank of Belgium, Brussels
Abstract: 
This paper investigates contagion between bank risk and sovereign risk in Europe over the period 2006-2011. Since this period covers various stages of the banking and sovereign crisis, it offers a fertile ground to analyze bank/sovereign risk spillovers. We define contagion as excess correlation, i.e. correlation between banks and sovereigns over and above what is explained by common factors, using CDS spreads at the bank and at the sovereign level. Moreover, we investigate the determinants of contagion by analyzing bank-specific as well as country-specific variables and their interaction. We provide empirical evidence that various contagion channels are at work, including a strong home bias in bank bond portfolios, using the EBA’s disclosure of sovereign exposures of banks. We find that banks with a weak capital and/or funding position are particularly vulnerable to risk spillovers. At the country level, the debt ratio is the most important driver of contagion.
Subjects: 
Contagion
bank risk
sovereign risk
bank business models
bank regulation
sovereign debt crisis
JEL: 
G01
G21
G28
H6
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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