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Regulatory Capture by Sophistication

Author

Listed:
  • Hakenes, Hendrik
  • Schnabel, Isabel
Abstract
One explanation for the poor performance of regulation in the recent financial crisis is that regulators had been captured by the financial sector. We present a micro-founded model with rational agents in which banks may capture regulators due to their high degree of sophistication. Banks can search for arguments of differing complexity against regulation. Finding such arguments is more difficult for a bad bank, which the regulator wants to regulate more strictly. However, the more sophisticated a bank is, the more easily it can produce an argument that a regulator may not understand. Career concerns prevent the regulator from admitting this, hence he rubber-stamps even bad banks, which leads to inefficiently low levels of regulation. Bank sophistication leads to capture, and thus to worse regulatory decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hakenes, Hendrik & Schnabel, Isabel, 2013. "Regulatory Capture by Sophistication," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79991, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79991
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Amadxarif, Zahid & Brookes, James & Garbarino, Nicola & Patel, Rajan & Walczak, Eryk, 2019. "The language of rules: textual complexity in banking reforms," Bank of England working papers 834, Bank of England.
    2. Carlos Altavilla & Miguel Boucinha & José-Luis Peydró & Frank Smets, 2019. "Banking supervision, monetary policy and risk-taking: Big data evidence from 15 credit registers," Economics Working Papers 1684, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Dec 2020.
    3. Orla McCullagh & Mark Cummins & Sheila Killian, 2023. "Decoupling VaR and regulatory capital: an examination of practitioners’ experience of market risk regulation," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(3), pages 321-336, September.
    4. repec:ces:ifodic:v:11:y:2014:i:4:p:19105947 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Mr. Arnoud W.A. Boot & Peter Hoffmann & Mr. Luc Laeven & Mr. Lev Ratnovski, 2020. "Financial Intermediation and Technology: What’s Old, What’s New?," IMF Working Papers 2020/161, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Gai, Prasanna & Kemp, Malcolm & Sánchez Serrano, Antonio & Schnabel, Isabel, 2019. "Regulatory complexity and the quest for robust regulation," Report of the Advisory Scientific Committee 8, European Systemic Risk Board.
    7. Pierre Durand & Gaëtan Le Quang & Arnold Vialfont, 2023. "Are Basel III requirements up to the task? Evidence from bankruptcy prediction models," Working Papers 2308, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    8. Witte, Niklas, 2024. "Capital requirements in Pillar 1 or Pillar 2: does it matter for market discipline?," Working Paper Series 2988, European Central Bank.
    9. Laeven, Luc & Boot, Arnoud & Hoffmann, Peter & Ratnovski, Lev, 2020. "Financial Intermediation and Technology: What’s Old, What’s New?," CEPR Discussion Papers 15004, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Boot, Arnoud & Hoffmann, Peter & Laeven, Luc & Ratnovski, Lev, 2021. "Fintech: what’s old, what’s new?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    11. Papathanassiou, Chryssa, 2024. "Digital innovation and banking regulation," Occasional Paper Series 351, European Central Bank.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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