European banks and risk management : did the recent financial crisis have any impact?

Abstract

The role played by risk management in the recent financial crisis has been widely studied by a broad range of literature. This paper investigates whether the implications of strong risk management practices on performance and market rewards during a single wave crisis are consistent with those of a multiple wave prolonged crisis defined as ranging between 2008 and 2011. Furthermore, it investigates whether a prolonged crisis period encourages banks to permanently strengthen their risk management practices during or post the crisis turmoil, potentially capturing elements of bank risk culture. Results show that strong risk management practices do not lead to superior bank performance and market rewards during a multiple wave crisis period. Additionally, the paper finds that banks which perform worse during a multiple wave crisis period fail to later improve their risk management practices.