ON THE DETERMINANTS OF NPLS: LESSONS FROM GREECE
Charalambakis Evangelos
Bank of Greece
Dendramis Yiannis
University of Cyprus
Tzavalis Elias
Athens University of Economics and Business
Abstract
We investigate the relationship between non-performing loans (NPLs) and their fundamentals, mainly bank and macroeconomic variables. This is done based on aggregate portfolio loans in the Greek economy. Greece constitutes an interesting case to study the factors determining NPLs, given the pervasive recessionary conditions that have characterized it since the outbreak of its sovereign debt crisis in 2010. We suggest a new econometric framework to study the above relationship which extends the SUR (seemingly unrelated regressions) framework to allow for a common break in its slope coefficient of unknown date. We show that the deterioration in the macroeconomic conditions (captured by very high rates of unemployment) and political uncertainty constitute key factors explaining the sharp rise of NPLs of the Greek banking sector after the first quarter of 2012. With the exception of bank profitability, we find that bank specific variables associated with bank capitalization and liquidity risk seem to determine NPLs only under normal economic conditions.
Keywords: NPLs, break point, bank-specific variables, macroeconomic conditions.
JEL Classification: C22, G01, G21
The authors would like to thank I. Assimakopoulos, H. Gibson, H. Louri, P. Monokroussos, S., Pagratis, G. Palaiodimos, A. Philippopoulos and A. Samitas for useful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of the paper. The views presented in the paper are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of their respective institutions. Yiannis Dendramis acknowledges support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 708501.
Correspondence:
Charalambakis Evangelos
Bank of Greece
21, E.Venizelos Avenue,
Athens, 102 50
Tel: +30210-320 2644
Email: echaralambakis@bankofgreece.gr