Seminar

Past

Financial Stability Workshop - How Do High Interest Rates Affect Banks: The Roles of Loan Losses and Macroprudential Policy

Romain Bouis

  • Date4 September 2025
  • Time 14h00 - 15h30
  • Room Salle 5 de l’espace conférence

Résumé

This paper examines empirically how the effect of interest rates on the three components of bank profits – loan loss provisions, net interest margin, and non-interest income – varies depending on bank characteristics and the macroprudential policy environment. A new finding is that higher interest rates lead to larger loan loss provisions for banks offering flexible-rate loans, but that this effect is attenuated when macroprudential borrower-based measures have been tight in preceding years. Tighter macroprudential settings also reduce the effect of higher unemployment on loan loss provisions recorded by banks, and thereby the negative impact of unemployment on profitability. Moreover, we find significant heterogeneity across banks: the profitability of banks with strong risk appetite that extend loans at flexible rates decreases with the interest rate, as the effect of loan losses dominates the effect on interest margin, while the profitability of other banks benefits on average from higher interest rates.

Other seminars

What Do 12 Billion Card Transactions Say About House Prices and Consumption?

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  • Banque de France - TSE Macroeconomics Seminars

  • Date 1 December 2026

  • Place online and room 4 great hall

  • Speaker or organiser Ragnar Enger Juelsrud (Norges Bank)

Détails

Quantitative Easing and Government Debt Sustainability

  • Seminar

  • Banque de France - TSE Macroeconomics Seminars

  • Date 17 November 2026

  • Place Online and room 6 Great Hall

  • Speaker or organiser Sebastian Merkel (University of Bristol)

Détails

Past

Inflation Expectations and Wage Setting: The Role of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity

  • Seminar

  • Banque de France - TSE Macroeconomics Seminars

  • Date 3 November 2026

  • Place Online and room E336

  • Speaker or organiser Sarah Lein (University of Basel)

Détails