Risk-Based Capital Requirements for Banks and International Trade
61 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 2014 Last revised: 4 Nov 2014
Date Written: October 28, 2014
Abstract
We provide the first evidence that changes in risk-based capital requirements for banks affect the real economy through international trade. Using a natural experiment – mandatory Basel II adoption in its Standardized Approach by all banks in Turkey on July 1, 2012 – we investigate the impact of new risk-weights applied to commercial letters of credit (CLC) on that country’s exports to 174 countries. We estimate the resulting payment-term-cost elasticity of CLC-financed trade to be between -0.5 and -1 while the overall trade elasticity to be between -0.032 and -0.179. Calculations suggest that both CLC-related bank pricing and rationing channels are involved.
Keywords: commercial letters of credit; international trade finance; exports; risk-weights; Basel II
JEL Classification: G21; G28; F14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation