Identifying Information Increases in Public Credit Registries

Abstract

Academics and policy research strives to understand the role of public credit registries (PCRs) and information sharing in the development of financial markets. To provide insights into this question, the empirical literature exploits reforms that establish or expand credit registries. Thus, it is crucial to identify the date and the nature of these reforms and events. This endeavor, however, is not straightforward, and prior work does not offer a transparent approach. This note outlines a tractable methodology that identifies PCR-related events based on relevant legislation and supervisory disclosures in Europe. We also verify the data in previously available datasets for a global sample.

Keywords: credit reform, public credit registries, information sharing, banking, regulation

JEL Classification: G21, G28