Banks' concentration versus diversification in the loan portfolio: New evidence from Germany

Nadya Jahn, Christoph Memmel and Andreas Pfingsten

No 53/2013, Discussion Papers from Deutsche Bundesbank

Abstract: Using a unique data set on German banks' sector specific loan exposures to the real economy and the corresponding write-offs and write-downs, we examine the impact of loan portfolio sector concentration on credit risk. By controlling for common risk factors, we separate the bank-specific selection and monitoring abilities from the composition of the loan portfolio. In our empirical study for the period 2003-2011, we find that (a) banks which are specialized in certain industries have, on average, lower loan losses, (b) the loss rate of a given industry in a bank's loan portfolio is lower if the bank has major exposures to this industry, and (c) the standard deviation of the loan losses is lower in the case of more focused banks.

Keywords: loan portfolio; credit risk; loan losses; concentration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 C43 G11 G21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:bubdps:532013

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