Risk Taking by Banks in the Transition Countries

Abstract

Although the performance and privatization of transition banks have been widely studied already, little is known about their risk taking and risk management activities. We use a new EBRD survey data set of banks to examine risk taking by banks in the transition countries. We find no indication of excessive risk taking by specific ownership or size categories of banks. Also, we find no connections between risk taking and the quality of the institutional environment although an unsound environment is associated with higher levels of capital.