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Working Paper 8905

MODELING LARGE COMMERCIAL-BANK FAILURES:
A SIMULTANEOUS-EQUATION ANALYSIS

by As11 Demirguc -Kunt

As11 Demirguc-Kunt is a visiting economist
at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
The author would like to thank Steve
Cosslett, Huston McCulloch, George Kaufman,
James Thomson, and especially Edward Kane
for helpful comments and discussion. Lynn
Downey and Dan Martin provided valuable
assistance with the data.
Working papers of the Federal Reserve Bank
of Cleveland are preliminary materials
circulated to stimulate discussion and
critical comment. The views stated hereln
are those of the author and not necessarily
those of the Federal Reserve Bank of
Cleveland or of the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System.

May 1989

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I. INTRODUCTION

The decade of the 1980s has been a turbulent one for the United States
banking and financial system. Since the establishment of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation(FDIC) in 1933, more than 1,500 banks have been closed.
Over 800 of these failures occurred during the 1980s with 200 institutions
failing in 1988 alone. The dramatic increase in the bank failure rate has
intensified public criticism of deposit institution regulators, since bank
soundness is a major regulatory responsibility.
This paper is concerned with modeling and predicting large commercial-bank
failures. The adverse consequences of bank failures, such as loss of
depositors' funds, failures of other banks, and financial distress caused by
sharp contractions in the money supply are no longer considered serious
concerns because of the Federal Reserve System's lender-of-last-resort
responsibilities and federal deposit insurance (Benston, et al. [I9861 and
Kaufman [1985]).

Nevertheless, deposit-insurance agencies are unintentionally

destabilizing the financial system by subsidizing deposit-institution
risk-taking through their insurance-pricing, coverage, monitoring, and
insolvency-resolution policies (Kane [1985, 19861 and McCulloch, [1987]).
Individual-institution insolvencies and failures remain a serious problem for
the insurance system's implicit guarantors, namely the general taxpayer and
conservatively managed institutions.
In cases where failure cannot be prevented, on average, the sooner the
bank is declared insolvent and its management changed, the smaller the losses
will be. Although not openly acknowledged by federal regulators, this fact

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underscores the importance of research in the area of failure prediction.
Being able to model deposit institution failures can be helpful in controlling
taxpayer loss exposure.
An accurate bank-failure model should begin by distinguishing between
insolvency and failure. Insolvency and failure of financial institutions are
separate processes. Legal insolvency occurs when an institution cannot cover
its current liabilities. In economic terms, an institution becomes insolvent
when the market value of its stockholder-contributed equity becomes negative.
This happens when the market value of its nonequity liabilities exceeds the
market value of its assets, net of deposit insurance guarantees. Failure is
not an automatic consequence of legal or economic insolvency. It results from
a conscious decision by regulatory authorities to acknowledge and act upon the
weakened financial condition of the institution. Most earlier bank failure
studies (Altman [1977], Avery and Hanweck [1984], Barth, et al. [1985];
Benston [1985]; Martin [1977]; and Sinkey [1975]) with the exception of
Gajewski (1988), have neglected this difference between economic insolvency
and failure. Failure is typically studied by analyzing a large number of
financial ratios as if it were equivalent to insolvency. All the studies
concentrate on small, untraded, institutions and assume that book values
provide an unbiased estimate of market-value insolvency.
This paper goes beyond previous empirical studies in a significant way.
It proposes to study insolvency and failure simultaneously, treating economic
insolvency as only one of the various factors that influence the failure
decision. The model of the regulator's failure decision developed here also
recognizes as relevant factors general economic constraints as well as the
economic, political, and bureaucratic constraints faced by the regulators.

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Using a simultaneous-equations model makes it possible to study the
determinants of economic insolvency and the regulators' reaction to this
financial condition at the same time.
The paper is organized as follows: Section I1 develops the model and its
theoretical foundation. The choice of variables and the functional form, as
well as the expected signs, are discussed in section 111. The estimation
technique and data are explained in section IV. Section V presents and
discusses the empirical results; section VI concludes the paper.

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11. THE MODEL AND ITS THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

2.1 Federal Regulators and their Changing Incentives

Deposit insurance agencies serve multiple purposes (Kane, 1985).

Their

most important goal is to serve the president and the Congress by adapting to
their economic polPcies and protecting them from public criticism whenever a
crisis surfaces involving unsafe or unsound banking practices. Also, federal
deposit insurance agencies cooperate with the office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (which charters national banks), state banking departments (which
supervise the entry and exit of state-chartered institutions), and the Federal
Reserve to represent and enforce the beneficial interest of depositors.
Through periodic examinations and continuous supervision, regulators try to
prevent deposit institutions from abusing their informational advantage over
their customers. These monitoring efforts make it hard for institutions to
misrepresent their economic condition to depositors. By undertaking to
guarantee deposits, insurance agencies also relieve the small account-holders
(up to $100,000) of any need to worry about their deposits. Finally, deposit
insurance has the macroeconomic goal of protecting the "safety and soundness"
of the banking system. To promote public confidence in the system, insurance
agencies try to prevent individual deposit institution failures.
Trying to achieve multiple goals, deposit insurance agencies often find
themselves in conflict between the short-run benefits of avoiding deposit
institution failures by bailing out clients and the long-run effects of such
actions on market discipline. In addition to the conflicting goals of the
insurance agencies, the deposit insurance bureaucrats also face changing

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incentives (Kane , 1988) .

Regulators, as opposed to the "faithful agent" image

they prefer to portray, are in fact self-interested agents whose
decisionmaking process is not necessarily determined by society's long-term
goals. Kane (1988) points out, that when a problem becomes too difficult to
resolve, it is to the regulator's interest to initially cover up and deny the
problem instead of honorably confronting it. Regulators tend to bury their
heads in the sand and hope the problem will disappear so that they can go on
to lucrative post-government jobs, having adequately met the demands of their
high post. Needless to say, the forbearance policies adopted in pursuit of
self-interest are far from guarding the long-term interests of the public.
The interests of the public and regulators once more coincide only when the
size of the problem becomes so great that the probability of being able to
further "cover up" and "get away" becomes very small.

2.2 Insolvency vs. Failure

The conflicting goals and corrupting incentives of the deposit insurers
have led to forbearance policies, creating the distinction between the
insolvency and the failure of an insured institution. Economic insolvency
exists when the market value of an institution's stockholder-contributed
equity becomes negative. However, "failure", the legal recognition of an
institution's preexisting economic insolvency, is an option that the
regulators may or may not choose to exercise.
There are five methods available to the regulators for resolving a
potential failure:
1. deposit payoff, which kills the corporation by putting its offices
out of operation;

2. direct assistance, usually in the form of a subsidized loan to (or
taking an equity position in) the institution;'

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3.

bridge bank, which is interim FDIC operation of the failed
institution;

4. reorganization, which means restructuring the institution's
uninsured debt; and
5. financially assisted purchase-and-assumption transactions, where
typically a healthier institution purchases at auction some or all
of the failing institution's assets and assumes all of its
deposits with compensation the from FDIC to balance the deal
(Kane, 1985).
Legally, each time it resolves an insolvency, the FDIC must choose the
resolution technique that minimizes the cost to the insurance fund. However,
since the performance of insurance-agency bureaucrats is not judged by agency
profits, in practice, the insurance agency's commitment to minimizing the risk
of cumulative failures modifies its commitment to minimizing the economic
costs of individual failures
In an effort to promote public confidence in the banking system and to
serve their self-interest, deposit insurers often delay de jure failure of
insolvent institutions, creating an artificial difference between insolvency
and failure. The myopic handling of insolvencies tends to increase the
expected future cost to the insurance agencies since the federal guarantees
establish an asymmetric mechanism for sharing unanticipated gains and losses
(Kane, 1986).

This asymmetry exists since, due to stockholders' limited

liability, the guarantor absorbs a larger share of unanticipated losses than
of unanticipated gains. By allowing the insolvent institutions to operate,
the insurance agencies increase the expected future cost to their fund since
the asymmetry increases as the capital of the institution decreases. Also,
uninsured creditors take advantage of this opportunity to improve their
positions and it becomes in the interest of the stockholders of such
institutions to take the largest risks possible. In addition, subsidies
designed to stop the cumulative short-run spread of current losses to a few

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other institutions undermine longer-run market sanctions against risk-bearing
for all institutions.
These long-run and system-wide implicit costs are often ignored. When a
failure decision is eventually made, the resolution method chosen is seldom a
deposit payoff due to the following pressures: (1) minimizing explicit
short-run costs to the deposit insurance fund,(2) political consequences of
adjustment costs imposed on individuals with broken banking connections,(3)
possibility of bank closings being viewed as a blot on regulators' and
politicians' records, and (4) increasing the chance of disrupting the public's
confidence in other deposit institutions (Kane, 1985).

In this study,

insolvency-resolution methods other than shotgun stockholder
recapitalization--such as nationalization, reorganization, interim FDIC
operation, supervisory mergers, and financially assisted purchase and
assumption transactions--are treated as instances of de facto failure.

2.3 The Model of the Regulators' Failure Decision

The model developed here assumes that the regulators' recognition of
insolvency depends on their minimization of short-run explicit expected cost
subject to various economic, political, and bureaucratic constraints. In each
period, optimizing regulators are faced with two alternatives
(failure/continue operation) in their decisionmaking process. Since one
alternative must be chosen at each time, a binary-choice model is appropriate
here. The binary decision by the regulators (about the ith institution) can
be conveniently represented by a random variable that takes the value one if a
failure decision is made and the value zero if the institution is allowed to
operate. Since the FDIC's decision cannot be predicted with certainty, we
model the choice probabilities. It is of interest to see how various

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explanatory variables affect the probability of a failure decision by the
FDIC.
Let P be a latent continuous variable that expresses the outcome of the
FDIC's binary choice such that:
F

=

1 when a failure decision is made,

F

=

0 when the institution is allowed to continue operation.

Assume the following regulator cost function:
F[a(X1> I + (1-F)[c(X,)

I,

where

The functions a(X1) and c(X2) are stochastic-constrained costs of
failing the institution and allowing it to operate, respectively. The
nonstochastic portions of these expressions can be modeled as linear functions
of variable vectors, X1 and Xz. Any unobservable random influences are
captured by the stochastic error components e, and e,.
Hence, a failure decision is only made if the constrained cost of failing
the institution is less than allowing the institution to operate and vice
versa:
F = l

if

F = O

a(X1> < c(Xz>,
4x1)

> c(%>

-

Now we can define F* as the net incentive to make a failure decision,
F*

=

c (%) - a (XI).

A failure decision is made if the incentive is greater than zero, and the
institution continues to operate autonomously if it is not:
F = l

ifc>a

F = O

c < a

P>0,
F*<0.

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Placed in a regression framework this threshold argument may be expressed as:
F3(=Xp+v

whereX1 ,X2 c X a n d v = ec-e,

then,
E(W)

=

P(F=l)

=

P(W > 0)

=

P(XP+v

=

P(X/3+ec-e, > 0)

=

P(e,-ec < Xp)

=

where

F is

> 0)

F(xp>

the cumulative distribution function of the e,-e,. The type

of the probability model we get depends on the assumption about the
distribution of errors.
Thus, the failure equation models a constrained-cost minimization by the
regulators. The independent variables, X, include bank-specific variables,
general economic condition variables as well as FDIC constraint proxies.
One of the variables that affect the regulators' failure decision, is the
market value of stockholder-contributed equity. This net equity value
summarizes the bank's financial condition. Using an option-pricing equation
to estimate the value of the federal guarantees (Schwartz and Van Order
[1988]; Markus and Shaked [1984]), it is possible to construct net equity by
subtracting the estimated guarantee value from the market value of the
institution. It is also important to note that the market value of the
institution, from which the degree of insolvency (net value) is constructed,
is an endogenous variable itself. Therefore, there is need for a separate
equation to study the determinants of economic insolvency (Maddala, 1986).
The full model consists of three equations. The first equation models the
determinants of economic insolvency or economic value of the institution. The

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second equation obtains the estimate of the market value of
stockholder-contributed equity, or net economic value, by subtracting the
estimated value of the guarantee from the estimated market value of the
institution. Finally, the third equation estimates the probability of a
failure decision by the regulators. In symbols:

mi,&
= h

(Y,,$)+

(1)

Uli,t

A

A

'Vipt

=

MVint-Gi,t
and Gist= g(Zi,t) + wi,t

(2)

F.
*
1.t

=

f(NV

(3

i,t, 'i,t)

+

Uzi,t

where,
mi,t

=

market value of the ith institution's equity at time t. MV
is the price per equity share multiplied by the number of
shares outstanding.

'i,t

=

value of the ith institution's explicit and conjectural
federal guarantees at time t.

mi,, =

net economic value of the ith institution at time t. It
is constructed by subtracting the estimate of the federal
guarantee value from the estimated market value of the
institution.

Firt*

=

the incentive variable that determines how the FDIC and
chartering authorities behave, as explained earlier.

Yi,, ,Zip,
and Xitt= vector of explanatory variables in
insolvency, guarantee and failure equations; discussed in
section I11 and listed in table 2.
Due to data limitations, the value of the guarantee will not be estimated
using the guarantee equation. As will be explained in section 111, it is
possible to estimate this value within the first equation, making use of
certain simplifying assumptions.

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111. PREDETERMINED VARIABLES, FUNCTIONAL FORM, AND EXPECTED SIGNS

3.1 Statistical Market Value Accounting Model

In the existing literature, independent variables for studying the
financial condition of the institutions (or their failure, since the
distinction is not usually made), are primarily ratios computed from banks'
regular financial statements. Akaike's information criterion, which is based
on the log-likelihood function of the model, adjusted for the number of
estimated coefficients, is commonly used in selecting the combination of
variables that best fits a given set of data (Akaike, 1973).

Usually, a large

number of financial ratios are tried before the final model is obtained.
One alternative approach, recently introduced by Kane and Unal (1989), and
applied by Thomson(1987) is the "Statistical Market Value Accounting Model
(SMVAM)."

This specification brings structure to the traditional "ad hoc"

choice of regressors common to balance sheet and income statement analysis.
Assuming efficient markets, the model decomposes the market value of a
firm's stock into three components. First, market value is decomposed into
hidden and recorded capital reserves. Second, hidden capital reserves are
decomposed into values that are "unbooked but bookable" and "unbookable"
items. The model develops explicit estimates of both components of hidden
capital,

SMVAM can have a flexible functional form. However, the following linear
relationship is posited as a convenient specification:
MVi,t

=

Poi,,+

Pli,tBVi,,
+ uli,t where,

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plittBVi,,
is the market's estimate of the value of accounting or
book net worth. /31i,tis the valuation ratio of the
market to book value of the collected components of the ith
institution's bookable equity (BV) at time t. Thus, an
estimate of the "unbooked but bookable" capital is obtained.
poi,t

captures the net value of unbookable assets and liabilities of
firm i at time t. This value of off-balance-sheet items
includes the value of a deposit institution's explicit and
conjectural federal guarantees net of discounted future costs.

According to the model, the market participants estimate the market value
of the elements of bookable equity by applying an appropriate mark-up or
mark-down ratio, (j31i,t),to the accounting net worth reported by the
institution. If this ratio is (not) equal to one, the accounting value of an
institution's equity represents an (biased) unbiased estimate of the
components of stockholders' equity. A market premium (discount) exists when
the ratio is greater (less) than one. In order to construct the market value
of the institution's equity, market participants also estimate unbookable
equity, the market value of off-balance-sheet items, which includes the FDIC
guarantees (point). A positive (negative) value implies that
unbookable equity serves as a net source of (drain on) the institution's
capital.
is the portion of market value
.
Hence in the above equation, ,L?o1,t
accounted for by unbookable equity and pli,tBVi,t
is the portion
of market value accounted for by bookable equity. In the absence of
measurement error, the theoretical values of the intercept and the slope
coefficient are zero and one, respectively, if there are no off-balance-sheet
items, and if the bookable assets and liabilities are marked to market.

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Adopting SMVAM as the first equation of the model allows us to study the
economic solvency (or insolvency) of an institution by studying the
determinants of the market value of its equity. Assuming the unbookable
equity of the institution mostly consists of the FDIC guarantees,

Poi,,

can be taken as an estimate of Gi,,, the value of federal guarantees.
This assumption is a strong, yet appealing, one given that it simplifies the
model considerably. Having obtained an estimate of Gi,, within the
first equation, the next value or stockholder-contributed equity (NV) is given

by substracting GiPtfrom the predicted market value of the institution.
The equation can be estimated both in time-series, cross-sectional pooled
data.

3.2 A Nonlinear Version
An alternative approach would be to consider a nonlinear version of the
flexible relationship between market value and book value. Since stock price
does not become negative, a nonlinear function is especially appealing at low
or negative book values (see figure 1).
The FDIC receives a compound option in exchange for its guarantee.
However, as emphasized throughout the paper, the FDIC's ability to exercise
this option is limited by its economic, political, and bureaucratic
'constraints. The received option is a call option, written not directly on
the firm's assets, but on the right to close out the firm's stockholders and
put a given percentage of the insolvent firm's unallocated losses to the
uninsured depositors by liquidating the firm (Kane, 1986).

In order to

minimize its losses, the FDIC should exercise its takeover option and close
the institution as soon as it becomes economically insolvent. Thus,
theoretically, the insurer can take over the equity of the firm at, or past,
the point of market-value insolvency. If the FDIC could exercise its option

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at market-value insolvency, the put half of the compound option need not be
exercised since net worth is approximately zero and any losses would be
minimal. Delays in exercising the takeover option due to the aforementioned
constraints may allow an already insolvent institution to become more and more
insolvent, causing the put half of the compound option to gain importance once
the call half is eventually exercised. The implicit and explicit cost to the
FDIC increases to the extent that regulator's constraints prevent this put
half of the option from being exercised.
The nonlinear function shown in figure 1 represents the relationship
between market and book values. The broken line is the value of the option at
expiration when the option is in the money (the institution is economically
solvent).

If the institution is market-value solvent, MV approaches a

constant proportion of BV. The horizontal axis to the left of point a, where
the bank just becomes economically insolvent, is the value of the option at
expiration when it is out of money. As the takeover of the bank is delayed
due to regulator constraints, and BV decreases to the left of a, MV approaches
zero. The FDIC has the option to take over the firm at, or to the left of,
point a.
Optimally, this option should be exercised at point a, when the
institution becomes economically insolvent. At this point, MV of the
institution differs from zero by the value of the charter and federal
guarantees. The value of the charter is composed of the value of business
relationships built over time, firm-specific options for profitable future
business opportunities, and monopoly rents that may accrue to the institution
from restrictive branching laws and other regulations that restrict
competition. However, we will assume that, at the point of economic
insolvency, the contribution of charter value to MV is negligible. To the
extent this assumption is valid, at point a, MV differs from zero by the value

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of the FDIC guarantees. The parameters of the model have the following
interpretations:
CASE A

-

figure 1 (ii):

In the absence of measurement error, if bookable

assets and liabilities are marked to market and there are no
off-balance-sheet items:
a

=

the optimal exercise point. At a, BV=O and the bank is economically
insolvent.

b

=

the slope of the asymptote that reflects the relationship between MV and
BV as they approach each other at large positive values. In this case,

since the accounting value of the institution's equity represents an
unbiased estimate of stockholder equity, b is equal to one.
c

=

at the exercise point, the MV of the institution differs from zero by the
charter value and the value of the FDIC guarantees. It is where the curve
intercepts the MV axis.

CASE B - figure 1 (i) and (iii):

if bookable equity is not marked to market

and off-balance-sheet items exist:
a

=

the bank becomes economically insolvent where BV is greater (less) than
zero if BV over (under) estimates the stockholder equity and
off-balance-sheet items are a drain on (the source of) the institution's
capital.

b

=

in this case, accounting value is a biased estimate of stockholder equity.
If a is greater (less) than zero, a market discount (premium) is expected;
thus, the coefficient is less (greater) than one. There is a discount and
a premium in figure 1 (i) and 1 (iii) respectively.

c

=

the interpretation of the coefficient is the same but it is no longer
given by the MV intercept since c is the value of the firm at a. The MV
intercept either under (figure 1,i) or over (figure 1,iii) estimates c in
this case.

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This nonlinear version can also be adopted as the first equation of the
model. Assuming away the value of the charter at the point of economic
insolvency allows us to get an estimate of the guarantee value within the
first equation (c

=

Gi,,).

With this specification, it is also possible

to allow c to vary for each bank at any point in time by parameterizing it to
be a function of ris iness of the bank and size of the liabilities
( c i i ) Here, a linear function is chosen to avoid further
complication of the model. However, it is also possible to use a nonlinear
specification for c.
The construction of the NV is similar to that of the linear case but c is
used as an estimate of the guarantee value instead of Po
Again, the equation can be estimated both as a time-series for each bank
and cross-sectionally in each period or with time-series, cross-sectional
pooled data.

k

3.3 Choice of Variables in the Failure Eauation

The point of this paper is that the failure of a financial institution,
unlike others, is determined by the regulators and not just by market forces.
Therefore, it is only appropriate to study failure within the framework of a
regulator decision-making model. The financial condition of the institution,
as summarized by the net value (NV), is important but is not the only factor
that influences the regulator's failure decision. Regulator constraints, such
as political and legal constraints, information and staff constraints, and
funding constraints reflected in the implicit and explicit reserves of the
insurance fund, are also important determinants in the decision-making
process. General economic conditions may also influence the failure decision
through their effect on regulator constraints.

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The following variables are included to account for different regulator
constraints. Exact variable definitions are in table 4.
The number of examiners, EX, is a proxy for staff constraint. Ceteris
paribus, inadequate manpower to deal with insolvencies is expected to act as a
deterrent in making a failure decision. A good-sized, highly-skilled staff is
necessary not only to spot insolvencies but also to go ahead and resolve these
cases.
The FDIC's fund size, R, is another important constraint. Naturally
without adequate funds, insolvencies cannot be resolved, even if the
regulators are aware they exist. Thus, the failure decision should also be
dependent on the adequacy of the insurance fund.
The asset size, A, for individual institutions is not included only as an
economic constraint. Clearly, the larger the institution, the more difficult
it is to financially resolve its insolvency. Also, the size variable is
expected to capture the political and bureaucratic constraints of the
regulators that become binding, especially when large institutions are
concerned. In an effort to protect their self-interest, regulators apparently
try not to get involved with large-bank failures, since they tend to be much
more visible.
Number of problem banks, PB, and a bank failure index, BFI, are also
included to explain regulator behavior. These variables capture more than one
effect. Controlling for the financial condition of the institution, an
increased number of bank failures or potential bank failures may protect
institutions from failing due to regulators' political and bureaucratic
constraints. To promote safety and soundness of the banking system,
regulators try to spread failures evenly through time. Thus, a large number
of failure decisions made recently may delay present failure decisions.
However, it is also possible to view these variables as lagged taste

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variables, or as a measure of inertia in regulator behavior. An increased
number of failures or potential failures may actually signal that a regulator
is getting tougher, a trend that may continue into the future.
A general business failure rate, FI, is also included to capture the
political and bureaucratic constraints of the regulators. Since this variable
is not related to regulators' past behavior, it should be able to capture the
protection effect explained above.
Interest rates and percentage changes in interest rates are also included
to determine if they have any particular effect on the regulators'
decision-making process.
Finally a charter variable, C, is included to see if the decision-making
process differs among different regulatory bodies. The decision to fail an
institution is made by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency if the
bank has a national charter and by the state banking commission if it has a
state charter.

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IV. ESTIMATION TECHNIQUE AND DATA SET

4.1 The Model

The model consists of three equations. The first equation models economic
insolvency, the second constructs the net economic value, and the third
estimates the probability of the regulator's failure decision. Since
determinants of insolvency and failure are based on similar factors, the error
terms of these equations, which capture the unobservable influences, will be
correlated (Maddala, 1986).

This dependence of ul and % causes

the otherwise recursive system to become simultaneous. A recursive system is
one in which the matrix of coefficients of the endogenous variables is
triangular and the contemporaneous covariance matrix is diagonal. The absence
of W from the first equation satisfies the first condition; however, the
dependence of the error terms violates the second. This dependence of ul
and uZ causes NV to be correlated with uz and a direct estimation of the
failure equation results in inconsistent estimates. To obtain consistent
estimates, a simultaneous technique has to be used. A two-stage method
recommended by Maddala (1986) is used in this study.

In estimation of simultaneous equations, the problem of identification
arises. It is concerned with the question of whether any specific equation in
a model can in fact be estimated. In other words, it is not a matter of
estimation method, but whether meaningful estimates of structural coefficients
can be obtained. For identification,(1) restrictions on structural
parameters,(2) restrictions on the covariance matrix, and/or (3)
respecification of the model to incorporate additional variables may be

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necessary. The identification of this model requires that ul and u2 be
independent (upon which the system becomes recursive) or, in our case, at
least one regressor from the first equation not to be included among the
regressors of the failure equation.

4.2 The First Equation

The specification of the first equation was tested by including the proxy
variables from the failure equation. The proxy variables and their various
combinations were rejected by F-tests in favor of the simplest model. The
stability of the coefficients was tested using a Chow test. This is a test of
equality between two sets of coefficients that are estimated from subsamples
(usually of equal size) of the original sample. The statistic has an F
distribution. The hypothesis of no structural shift could not be rejected for
the pooled sample of failed and nonfailed banks at a 5 percent significance
level. Due to autocorrelated disturbances, a Cochrane-Orcutt method was used
in estimation. This is an iterative method that gives estimators that
converge to maximum likelihood estimators. Presence of heteroskedasticity was
detected using Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey and Goldfeld-Quandt tests. The
Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey test has a chi-square statistic based on the regression
of squared residuals on the explanatory variables. The Goldfeld-Quandt test
splits the sample in two and calculates a ratio of residual sums of squares
from the two regressions. The resulting statistic has an F distribution. In
both tests, the null hypothesis is a homoskedastic error structure.
To correct for heteroskedasticity, the first equation (including the
constant-term) was deflated by (i) total assets, and (ii) book value.
However, because heteroskedasticity tests after these corrections still
indicated the presence of heteroskedasticity, White's (1980) consistent

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estimator of the variance-covariance matrix was calculated. When the process
generating the heteroskedasticity is unknown, White suggests using the
undeflated least-squares coefficient estimates, since they remain
unbiased and consistent.
Yet for hypothesis testing, his alternative estimator of the
variance-covariance matrix needs to be used instead of the least squares
covariance matrix estimator, which is ificonsistent. White's estimator does
not require a formal modeling of the structure of the heteroskedasticity since
it requires only the regressors and the estimated least squares residuals for
its computation and, in cases when heteroskedasticity cannot be estimated, it
allows correct inferences and confidence intervals to be obtained.
In estimating the first equation for failed institutions owned by bank
holding companies (approximately 1/5th of the failed sample), an additional
problem arises.
The data used are the individual bank's book value.

However, the holding

company's market value is used instead of the bank's market value, since the
stock of the bank seldom trades separately. As Kane and Unal (1989) discuss
at length, to the extent that holding companies have other bank and nonbank
subsidiaries, and to the extent that the book value of these subsidiaries are
correlated with the book value of the bank, the regression estimates will be
biased. In order to see the extent of this bias, the first equation was also
estimated omitting the holding-company-owned failed banks. Fortunately, the
bias does not seem to be important since the regression estimates of the test
run were not statistically different from the ones obtained from the full
sample. For the nonfailed banks, this problem does not arise because the
holding companies included in the sample are one or multibank holding
companies without nonbank subsidiaries, and holding company market value and
consolidated book value are used in estimating the regressions.

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The linear version of the first equation was estimated using ordinary
lease squares (OLS) for individual banks' time-series and also for all banks
using time-series, cross-section pooled data. The nonlinear version of the
equation was estimated using nonlinear least squares (NLS) with panel data.
The coefficient that captures the FDIC quarantees, Cinlt,
was
parameterized to be a linear function of the institution's rick and size of
the liabilities. The average annual stock price range was used to proxy risk;
liabilities were given by the total assets, minus the book value. This
specification allows the FDIC guarantee value to vary both across time and
among institutions with respect to their size and riskiness.

4.3 The Failure Equation

The limited variation permitted in the dependent variable of the second
equation makes it equivalent to a qualitative response or choice model
(Amemiya

[I9811 and Maddala [1983]).

In these statistical models, the

endogenous random variables take only discrete values. When the dependent
variable is dichotomous, which is the case in our failure equation, then the
model becomes a binary-choice model.
As Amemiya states, in such models it does not matter whether a probit or a
logit model is used. However, since in our case the sampling rates of
failures and nonfailures are unequal, the estimated coefficients of the probit
model are biased. This problem does not arise with the logit model, which
makes it preferable to the probit model (Maddala, [I983 and 19861).

Thus, the

Logit Maximum Likelihood Method is used in estimating the failure equation.
The method is actually a two-stage one, since in the first stage NV is
constructed by subtracting the federal guarantee estimate from the predicted

MV. The reason predicted MV is used instead of the actual MV is that MV is

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correlated with u2 and an NV constructed in that way would bias the failure
equation coefficients. In the second stage, this constructed NV is used as
one of the explanatory variables and the failure equation is estimated by
logit technique using pooled data.
One problem with the two-stage method should be noted. The asymptotic
variance-covariance matrix from the second stage underestimates the correct
standard errors because it ignores the fact that the explanatory variable NV
is estimated. The correct asymptotic variance-covariance matrix is calculated
using Arnemiya's (1978, 1979) method. The corrected variance-covariance matrix
has an extra positive semidefinite term that the two-stage method omits.
When evaluating binary choice models, care must be taken (Judge et al.
[1985]).

Estimated coefficients do not indicate the increase in the

probability of the failure decision given a one-unit increase in the
corresponding independent variable. Instead, the amount of increase in
probability depends upon the original probability and thus upon the initial
values of all the independent variables and their coefficients. This is true
since P(F=l)

=

F(Xp) and 6P(F=1)/6xi

=

f (Xp)p,, where f ( .) is the

probability density function associated with

F( . ) .

Therefore, while the

size of the coefficient indicates the direction of the change, the magnitude
depends upon f(.), which reflects the steepness of the cumulative distribution
function at Xj3.

In other words, a change in the explanatory variable has

different effects on the probability of failure decision, depending on the
bank's initial probability of failure. This is intuitively plausible, since
one would expect that if a bank has an extremely high (or low) probability of
failure, a marginal change in the independent variables will have little
effect on its prospects. The same marginal change might have a great effect
if the bank's probability of failure were somewhere around 0.5.

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4.4 Data Set

Panel data are used in estimating this model. A list of failed banks with
assets over $90 million (since smaller banks seldom have actively traded
stocks) was obtained from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Annual
Reports for the period 1973-1988. Annual data on number of shares, book
value per share, total assets, and price range were collected from Moody's
Bank Manual for each bank, where possible, from 1963 up to the date of
failure.
The names of the 32 failed banks, for which complete data could be
collected, are given in table 1. Banks have an asset size range of $92
million to $47 billion. A random sample of 42 nonfailed banks within this
asset range having roughly similar asset size dispersion was chosen.
Nonfailed banks are from the same geographic locations as the failed banks,
have actively traded stock, and are FDIC members. The same annual data were
collected for the nonfailed banks.
Interest-rate data are obtained from Standard and Poor's Basic
Statistics. The business-failure rate is from Dun & Bradstreet's
Business Failure Record. The charter data are obtained from the Federal
Reserve Board of Governors reports of condition data tapes. The data for the
rest of the variables are collected from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Annual Reports. For variable definitions see table 2.

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V. RESULTS

5.1 First Equation Results

The linear version of the first equation is estimated with time-series
data for each bank individually and with pooled data for all institutions. The
results for individual banks are given in table 3. The coefficient estimates
can be summarized as follows:

p,,

the intercept, is significant 34 percent of the time. Its sign is
positive in almost all the cases, implying that the off-balance-sheet
items serve as a net source of the institutions' capital. One positive
component of the intercept is the value of the federal deposit
insurance guarantee and this positive value is consistent with the
hypothesis that underpriced deposit insurance would contribute
significantly to the market values of undercapitalized institutions.

pl, the BV

coefficient, is highly significant and positive 95 percent of

the time. It is significantly different from unity in 60 percent of the
cases and is less than unity in 45 percent of the cases. The combined
j?=O and pl=l condition necessary for recorded equity to be an

unbiased estimate of market value holds only for 28 perecent of the
banks. These figures are consistent with Kane's (1985) claim that
accounting representations of the economic performance of major banks
are somewhat deceptive.
The results of the first equation, estimated using time-series
cross-section pooled data for failed, nonfailed, and all pooled samples, are
given in table 4. Pooled OLS results are consistent with the results for
individual banks .

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The intercepts for all three samples are positive. However, they are only
significant for failed and all pooled samples. Also, the intercept of the
failed banks is significantly greater than those of the nonfailed and all
pooled samples, indicating the higher value of the deposit insurance guarantee
for undercapitalized institutions.
The slope coefficients of all samples are significantly (at 10 percent for
nonfailed banks) less than unity and the slope coefficient of the failed banks
is significantly less than those of the nonfailed and all banks. These
results indicate not only that the market discounts financial institutions'
bookable equity, but also that the bookable equity of the failed institutions
is discounted to a greater extent.
The nonlinear version of the first equation is estimated with pooled data
and the results are also given in table 4. The coefficient c, which is
expected to capture the value of the federal guarantees, is parameterized to
be a linear (as a convenient simplification) function of the institution's
riskiness and size of its liabilities. NLS results are similar to those
obtained using OLS:
a, the exercise price, where the institutions are economically insolvent,
is positive and significant for all three samples. This indicates that
the BV of financial institutions significantly overstates MV. The
extent of overvaluation as a percentage of total assets is about 4
percent for nonfailed and 6 percent for failed banks. The BV of failed
institutions typically overstates their MV to a significantly greater
extent than that of healthy institutions.

b, the slope of the asymptote, corresponds to

in SMVAM. The results

obtained are the same; the market discounts the bookable equity of
institutions in general, and the BV of failed banks is discounted
significantly more.

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d, the coefficient of the risk variable, is positive and significant in
all cases. As expected, the value of the FDIC guarantees increases
with an increase in the riskiness of the institutions. It is also
important to note that an equal amount of additional risk increases the
value of the guarantee for the unhealthy institutions to a
significantly greater extent (about 10 times greater) than the healthy
ones.
e, the coefficient of the size of liabilities, is also positive and
significant for all samples. Naturally, the value of the guarantee
increases as the liabilities increase. However again, an equal amount
of increase in liabilities increases the value of the guarantee
significantly more for unhealthy institutions than for healthy ones.
E , the mean value of the FDIC guarantees implied by d and e coefficients

and the mean value of risk and liabilities, is significantly positive
for each group. The value of the guarantee is significantly greater
for the failed banks as expected.
The results for both the linear and nonlinear versions of the first
equation indicate significant differences among failed and nonfailed banks. To
sum up, the value of unbookable equity is much higher for unhealthy
institutions. Also, the valuation ratio of the market to book value of these
institutions' bookable equity is significantly lower than that of healthy
ones. The BV of unhealthy institutions overstates their MV to a greater
extent and these institutions enjoy a greater FDIC guarantee value that
increases more with a marginal increase in risk or liability size. The book
value accounting is misleading in general and it seems to misrepresent the
economic performance of the unhealthy institutions to a greater extent.

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5.2 Failure Equation Results

The failure equation is estimated using (i) a linear version and (ii) a
nonlinear version of the first equation. The key difference is in the way the
NV variable is constructed. As explained in section 111, the linear version
constructs NV by subtracting the estimate of unbookable equity ( P o ) from
the predicted MV of the institutions. The NV obtained from the nonlinear
version subtracts the c value again from the predicted MV of the institutions.
For failed and nonfailed banks, their respective pooled sample coefficient
estimates are used. For comparison purposes, the failure equation is
estimated using BV instead of NV, as well as using both BV and NV for each
case. Also, the relative importance of the regulator constraint variables, BV
and NV is examined.
The results of the failure equation, using the linear version of the first
equation, are presented in table 5:
The constant term is negative and significant, implying that the higher
the overall average charter value of the institutions, that is, the higher the
value of institutions' ongoing customer relationships and profitable future
business opportunities, the less likely the regulators are to fail an
institution.
As expected, the coefficient of net value is also negative and
significant. Clearly, an increase in the net economic value of an institution
reduces the pressure the regulators feel to fail it. BV, when included
without the NV, also has a negative and significant coefficient. However,
when it is included with NV, its coefficient loses its significance.
Regulator constraint variables, such as the number of examiners and the
insurance fund, both have positive and significant coefficients. Ceteris

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paribus, an increase in the number of examiners or the size of the fund, by
relaxing the economic constraints against failure, makes a failure decision
for an institution more likely. For given skill levels and population of
clients, the greater the number of examiners employed at time t-1, the more
thorough the examinations will be. This increases the probability that the
FDIC will discover insolvent institutions, making a failure decision for an
institution more likely at time t. Similarly an increase in the available
funds to the FDIC would increase the probability of an insolvent institution's
failure and supervisory merger.
The coefficients of the bank-failure index and the number of problem banks
are also positive and significant. These two variables capture three separate
and possibly counteracting effects. First, the number of problem banks and
the failure index are lagged taste variables. A higher failure index or
number of problem banks at time t-1 indicates that regulators are getting
tougher in dealing with institutions, which makes it more likely that an
individual institution will fail at time t. Second, a higher bank-failure
index signals a deterioration of the economic environment for banks in general
and it is expected to increase the probability of a failure decision for
individual banks. Similarly, the FDIC's problem bank list includes those
banks recognized as possessing low capital adequacy, asset quality, management
skills, earnings, and/or liquidity. Many of these banks may be de facto
insolvent. To the extent authorities try to delay failure, potential failures
(many of which are beyond saving) tend to appear on this list for some time
before being acted upon. Therefore, an increase in potential failures at time
t-1 may also be indicative of the deteriorating economic environment for banks
and of an increase in the probability of a failure decision for individual
banks at time t. Third, given that the financial condition of an institution
is controlled for, an increase in bank failures or number of problem banks may

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actually protect individual institutions, taking into account the regulators'
political and bureaucratic constraints and self-serving incentives. In the
face of accumulating trouble, regulators may become more lenient in their
failure policies in an effort to cover-up and get-away. This final factor
counteracts the first two. The positive coefficients obtained for these
variables indicate that the first two factors are larger in magnitude than the
last one.

A general business failure rate is perhaps a better indicator of
the overall economy and should be able to capture this "protection" effect
more clearly, since its coefficient is not blurred by the first two effects.
When included, the coefficient is indeed consistently negative. However, it
fails to be significant.
The coefficients of asset size and relative asset size with respect to the
insurance fund are negative and significant. These variables not only capture
economic constraints but also capture the political and bureaucratic
constraints associated with so-called "too large to fail" banks. The
coefficients reflect the well-known tendency of the regulators to treat the
larger banks differently.
The interest and percentage change in interest variables have positive but
insignificant coefficients. They do not add significant information to the
decision-making process.
Finally, the coefficient of the charter variable is negative but
insignificant. This indicates that although the federal regulators tend to be
more lenient, the decision-making processes of the federal and state
regulators are not statistically different.
The coefficient estimates all have expected signs and most of the key
variables turn out to significantly affect the regulators' failure decision,

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although as Maddala (1986) notes, conventional tests based on asymptotic
standard errors may err in the direction of nonsignificance in the case of
logit models.
The predictive power of the model is also given in table 5. The two types
of errors are error 1, the error of misclassifying a failed bank as nonfailed,
and error 2, the error of misclassifying a nonfailed bank as failed. Error 1
has a range of 3 percent (only one bank misclassified) to 9 percent (3 banks
were misclassified). The specification using BV instead of NV misclassifies 16
percent of the failed banks. Error 2 has a range of 10 percent to 16 percent
for different specifications and, using BV instead of NV, the model
misclassifies 14 percent of the nonfailures. It is often argued that the
costs of these misclassification errors are not the same and that error 1 is
relatively more costly. However, if we assume these costs are the same and
also weigh the two errors equally, this equally weighted total correct
prediction determines the discriminatory power of the model. Alternative
specifications of the model have 88 percent to 93.5 percent prediction
accuracy. The lowest prediction accuracy is 85 percent, which belongs to the
single equation specification with BV instead of NV.
The results of the failure equation, using the nonlinear version of the
first equation, are presented in table 6. Obtained results are not
substaritially different. The explanatory variables have the same signs. One
difference is that the interest varible gains significance, but the size
variable is no longer significant with this specification. Summary statistics
are improved, indicating a better fit, and predictive power is slightly
higher. The range of error 1 is lower at 3 percent to 6 percent and error 2
is unchanged. Thus equally-weighted prediction accuracy is also slightly
improved at 89.5 percent to 93.5 percent.

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To further study the differences between various specifications, the
failure equation is estimated using (1) only regulator constraints,(2) only
BV,(3) only NV from linear specification, and (4) only NV from nonlinear
specification. The results are given in table 7. It is interesting to see
that the model with only regulator constraint variables has a prediction
accuracy of 76 percent. This is almost as high as the discriminatory power of
the model with only BV, which is 77.5 percent. The NV, obtained from the
linear specification, does significantly better in classifying the failed
banks. The error 1 falls to 16 percent and prediction accuracy increases to

80 percent. Finally, the NV obtained from the nonlinear specification does
even better. Almost all the failed banks (except one) are correctly classified
with error 1 at 3 percent. Its prediction accuracy is also the highest among
the four specifications, at 85 percent.
Although the nonlinear version of the first equation does seem to produce
an estimate of NV that has a greater discriminatory power by itself, the
results of the full model indicate that the linear version of the first
equation does equally well. The linear version may be preferred in practice
since it simplifies the estimation of the model considerably.
The results obtained from the failure equation shed light on various
issues. First, regulator constraints are important in determination of the
failure decision. Second, NV is a much better indicator of financial
condition than BV. Third, nonlinear estimation of the first equation seems to
enhance the NV's own discriminatory power, probably better capturing the true
net economic value of the unhealthy institutions.
In conclusion, the best failure model, as hypothesized throughout, is the
one that allows both the financial condition of the institutions and tfie
regulator constraints to determine the decision-making process. Although NV
is a good indicator of the likelihood of a failure decision, the

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classification accuracy increases to over 90 percent only when the regulator
constraints are taken into consideration.

This is expected since failure is a

regulator-determined event and regulator constraints do have a significant
additional contribution in explaining the decision-making process.

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VI. CONCLUSIONS

The purpose of this paper is to develop an accurate model of large bank
failures. In order to achieve this end, insolvency and failure of
institutions are studied simultaneously and economic, political, and
bureaucratic regulator constraints are taken into account. The maintained
hypothesis throughout the study is that the contribution of regulator
constraints to the failure determination is significant since failure is a
regulator-determined event, and any model of bank failure that does not
distinguish between failure and insolvency cannot be complete.
In studying the insolvency of institutions, the importance of obtaining a
stockholder-contributed equity value is stressed. Through the use of Kane and
Unal's (forthcoming 1989) SMVAM, the market value of the institutions' equity
is decomposed into its components. The results of the insolvency equation
indicate major differences between failed and nonfailed banks. The unbookable
equity of failed institutions is much greater than that of the nonfailed
institutions. Further, the bookable equity, which is discounted in general
for all institutions, is discounted to a greater extent for failed
institutions. The value of the federal deposit-insurance guarantee, which is
a positive component of the institution's unbookable equity, is greater for
failed institutions and increases with an increase in the riskiness of the
institution or the size of its liabilities. Also, an equal increase in
riskiness or liability size induces a greater increase in guarantee value for
the unhealthy banks.
The failure equation studies the regulator's failure decision process. The
net value of the institution constructed from the insolvency equation is an

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important variable in the failure equation, since it summarizes the financial
condition of the institution. However, as expected, the regulator constraint
variables also play a significant role in failure determination. Net economic
value has a discriminatory power that consistently outperforms that of the
book value. This is not surprising since the first equation results indicate
that book value greatly misrepresents the financial condition of the
institutions and especially that of the failed ones.
The model of bank failure developed in this study is more complete since
it takes into consideration a previously ignored determinant of the
decision-making process. The results obtained support the approach taken in
this paper.

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FIGURE

I:

MV

(i

0.5b(BV-a)
MV

(ii)

(iii)

Source:

=

Author

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Table 1: List of Failed Banks

Date

Bank

Assets

How

Oct. 1973

United States National Bank
San Diego, California
(USN)

1.3B

P&A

Oct. 1974

Franklin National Bank
New York, N.Y.
(F'NB)

Oct. 1975

American City Bank & Trust
Co., N.A., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
(ACB)

148M

Jan. 1975

Security National Bank
Long Island, New York
(SNB)

198M

Feb. 1976

The Hamilton National Bank
of Chattanooga, Tennessee
(HNB

412M

Dec. 1976

International City Bank &
Trust Co., New Orleans,
Louisiana (ICB)

176M

Jan. 1978

The Drovers' National Bank
of Chicago, Illinois
(DNB)

227M

Apr. 1980

First Pennsylvania Bank, N.A.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
( FPC

OBA

Oct. 1982

Oklahoma National Bank &
Trust Co., Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma (ONB)

P&A

Feb. 1983

United American Bank in
Knoxville, Knoxville,
Tennessee (UAB)

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Table 1: List of Failed Banks (continued)
-~~

Date

Bank

Feb. 1983

American City Bank
Los Angeles, California
(ACB)

Oct. 1983

The First National Bank
of Midland, Midland, Texas

May 1984

The Mississippi Bank
Jackson, Mississippi

Assets

How

P&A

1.4B

P&A

PdrA

(MBJ )

.

Continental Illinois National
Bank & Trust Co., Chicago,
Illinois (CIB)

47B

OBA

Aug. 1986

Citizens National Bank &
Trust Co., Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma (CNO)

166M

P&A

May 1986

First State Bank & Trust Co.
Edinburg, Texas
(FSB)

June 1986

Bossier Bank & Trust Co.
Bossier City, Louisiana
(BBT)

July 1986

The First National Bank &
Trust Co., Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma (J?NB)

Sept. 1986

American Bank & Trust Co.
Lafayette, Louisiana
(ABL)

Dec. 1986

Panhandle Bank & Trust Co.
Borger, Texas
(PBT)

July 1984

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Table 1: List of Failed Banks (continued)

Date

Bank

Assets

How

--

Aug. 1986

First Citizens Bank
Dallas, Texas
(FCB)

Nov. 1986

First National Bank &
rust Co. of Enid, Oklahoma
(FBT)

92.4M

Jan. 1987

Security National Bank &
Trust Co., Norman,
Oklahoma (SBT)

174.4M

Oct. 1987

Alaska National Bank
of the North, Alaska
(ANB

Feb. 1988

Bank of Dallas
Dallas, Texas
(BOD)

March 1988

Union Bank & Trust
Co., Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma (UBT)

P&A

Apr. 1988

First City Bancorp
of Texas, Houston,
Texas (CBT)

OBA

Apr. 1988

Bank of Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
(BSF)

OBA

July 1988

First Republicbank
Dallas, N.A., Dallas,
Texas (FRC)

P&A

March 1989

Mcorp, Dallas,
Texas
(MCP)

B

P&A

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Table 1: List of Failed Banks (continued)

Date

Bank

Assets

1989*

Texas American Bancshares Inc.
Texas (TAB)

5.9B

1989*

National Bancshares Corp
of Texas, Texas
(NBC)

2.7B

Notes:

* indicates that a failure decision is pending.
P&A - Purchase & Assumption transaction (23)
OBA - Open Bank Assistance (4)
P

-

R

- Reorganization(1)

B

- Bridge Bank (1)

Deposit Payoff (1)

Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Annual Reports.

How

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Table 2: Variable Definitions and Sources

First Equation

MV,

- market value of the institution's equity at time t. MV is the
price per share multiplied by the number of shares
outstanding. All data are obtained from Moody's &B
Manuals.

BV,

- book value of the institution's equity at time t. BV is the
book value of assets, minus the book value of liabilities and
is given by the sum of common stock capital, surplus,
undivided profits, and reserves. Data are obtained from
Moody's Bank Manuals.

Failure Equation
Ft

- the binary failure variable as explained in section 11.

NV,

- the stockholder-contributed net
equity value of the
institution at time t. It is constructed by equation 2 in
section 11.

EX,

- the number of examiners the FDIC employs at time t. It is
obtained from the FDIC's Annual Reports.

BFI,

-

FI,

- bank failure index at time t. This variable is calculated
from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Annual
Report, table 122. The calculation is based on total
deposits of failed institutions and 1970 is taken as the base
year.

PB,

- number of problem banks at time t. It is obtained from
various issues of the FDIC's Annual Reports.

business failure rate at time t. This variable is obtained
from Dun & Bradstreet's Business Failure Record.

Rt

-

the FDIC insurance fund at time t. It is obtained from the
FDIC's Annual Reports.

A,

-

total asset size of the institution at time t, as given in
Moody's Bank Manuals.

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Table 2: Variable Definitions and Sources(continued)

-

INT,

TINt
ct

-

yearly average of the 6-month T-bill rate calculated from
monthly data. It is obtained from Standard and Poor's
Basic Statistics.
percentage change in the INT variable.

-

a dummy variable that takes on the value one if the bank has a
national charter and the value zero if it has a state charter.
Data are obtained from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
reports of condition data tapes.

Guarantee Equation
Gt

-

Bt

- the face value of the institution's debt at time t.

vt

- current value of the assets of the institution at time t.

rt

-

T

- length of time until the next audit of the bank's assets.

a2,

-

the FDIC guarantee value at time t.

market rate of interest on riskless securities at time t.

the instantaneous variance of the value of assets
for the institution at time t.

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Table 3 : First Equation Results for Each Bank with Time-Series Data
Linear Version

Banks

Failed Banks:
USN
1963-72
FNB
1963-73
ACB
1963 -74
SNB
1963-74
HNB
1963 -75

DNB
1963 -77
FPC
1968 -79
ONB
1963 -81
UAB
1963 - 82
ACB
1964-82
FNM
MBJ
1963 - 83
CIB
1963 - 83

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Table 3 : First Equation Results for Each Bank with Time-Series Data
Linear Version (continued)

Banks

Failed Banks :
CNO
1966-85
BBT
1967 - 85
FNB
1963-85

ABL
1963-85
PBT
1963-85
FCB
1970- 85
FBT
1970-85
SBT
1978-86
ANB
1964-86
BOD
1963-87
UBT
1972-87
CBT
1963-87
BSF
1963 - 87
FRC
1963-87

Po

PI

R~

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Table 3 : First Equation Results for Each Bank with Time-Series Data
Linear Version (continued)

Banks

Failed Banks:
MCP
1963-87
TAB
1963-87
NBC
1963-87
Operating Banks:
CFB
1963-87
CNB
1963-87
CWB
1963-87
ONB
1964-87
CCT
1963-87
FNB
1963-87
FNM
1963 - 87
FNS
1963-87
MBT
1963-87
NBT
1963 - 87

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Table 3 : First Equation Results for Each Bank with Time-Series Data
Linear Version (continued)

Banks

Operating Banks:
WHC
1963-87
VNB
1963 - 87
FCC
1968-87
PBT
1970-87
CNH
1970-87
NBC
1972-87
OSB
1975-87
NCB
1976-87
SLB
1977-87
FAB
1978-87
PSB
1978 - 87
FMB
1975 - 87
VBC
1964-87
FAC
1968 - 87

Po

PI

R~

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Table 3 : First Equation Results for Each Bank with Time-Series Data
Linear Version (continued)

Banks

Operating Banks:
BTN
1966 - 87
WFC
1968-87
FCT
1974-87

cuc
1975-87
CNC
1972-87
ABI
1973-87
BOC
1973 -87
CFI
1968-87
FES
1970-87
RNC
1970-87
CMN
1968-87

CPC
1973 - 87
GAC
1971-87
SMB
1968-87

Po

PI

R~

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Table 3 : First Equation.Results for Each Bank with Time-Series Data
Linear Version (continued)

Banks

Operating Banks:
HBM

1972-85

Notes:

Standard errors are given in parentheses.
Superscripts: *
significantly differs from zero at 5%
** significantly differs from zero at 1%
Subscripts:
significantly differs from one at 5%
** significantly differs from one at 1%
The annual data on number of shares, book value per share, and
price range were collected from Moody's Bank
Manual for each bank.

*

Source:

Author.

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Table 4: First Equation Results with Pooled Samples
Linear and Nonlinear Versions

1.

Nonfailed Banks Pooled

OLS: j3 : 14.019
(10.313)
NLS: a: 81.315***
(9.618)

2.

1963-87:

j3,: 0.804***
(0.129)
b: 0.832***
(0.030)

d: 6.766***
(2.644)

e: 0.005***
(0.001)

E: 11.040***
(3.027)

e: 0.017***
(0.003)

E : 54.870***

e: 0.0124***
(0.001)

E: 27.073***
(1.834)

Failed Banks Pooled - 1963-87:

OLS: j3 : 52.155***
(13.739)
NLS: a: 122.910***
(6.911)

3.

-

P I : 0.516***
(0.073)
b: 0.524***
(0.125)

d: 69.344***
(9.276)

Failed/Nonfailed Banks Pooled

OLS: j3 : 25.159***
(7.122)
NLS: a: 95.815***
(8.586)

1963-87:

j3,: 0.721***
(0.083)
b: 0.716***
(0.022)

See notes to table 7.
Source: Author.

-

(6.301)

d: 14.838***
(3.954)

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Table 5: Logit Analysis of Bank Failures

-

First Equation Linear

Dependent Variable : Failure
Independent
Variables
Const.

(1)

Alternative Specifications
(2)
(3)
(4)

(5)

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Table 5: Logit Analysis of Bank Failures - First Equation Linear
(continued)

(1)

Alternative Specifications
(2)
(3
(4)

(5)

Summary Statistics
Model
Chi-square

121.87***

118.75***

122.79***

130.35***

165.69***

-2 Log L

184.63

187.75

183.71

168.48

133.14

Classification
Error 1

3%

Error 2

16%

Total Correct

90.5%

See notes to table 7
Source:

Author

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Table 6: Logit Analysis of Bank Failures - First Equation Nonlinear
De~endentVariable : Failure
Independent
Variables
Cons t .

(1)

Alternative Specifications
(2)
(3
(4)

(5)

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Table 6: Logit Analysis of Bank Failures - First Equation Nonlinear
(continued)

(1)

Alternative Specifications
(2
(3
(4)

(5)

Summary Statistics
Model
Chi-square

135.94***

131.97***

137.14***

130.35***

165.67***

-2 Log L

170.56

174.54

169.36

168.48

133.16

Error 1

3%

6%

3%

16%

3%

Error 2

16%

15%

15%

14%

10%

Total Correct

90.5%

89.5%

91%

85%

93.5%

Classification

See notes to table 7.

Source: Author.

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Table 7: Failure Decision - Regulator Constraints vs. Financial Condition
Dependent Variable : Failure
Independent
Variables

Const.

INT

(1)

-108.140***
(26.596)

Alternative Specifications
(2
(3

-13.138***
(1.369)

-11.194***
(1.209)

(4)

-11.852***
(1.454)

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Table 7 : Failure Decision
(continued)

(1)

-

Regulator Constraints vs. Financial Condition

Alternative Specifications
(2)
(3)

(4)

Summarv Statistics
Model Chi-square
-2 Log L

94.14***
212.37

69.94***
228.89

59.89***
246.61

73.01***
233.50

Classification
Error 1
Error 2
Total Correct

Notes:

Standard errors are given in parentheses. Single, double,
triple asterisks indicate significance at 10, 5, 1 percents
respectively. Interest data are obtained from Standard and
Poor's Basic Statistics. Bank-failure index is calculated from
the FDIC's 1987 Annual Re~ort,table 122, base year taken as
1970. Business-failure rate is obtained from Dun & Bradstreet's
Business Failure Record. Year-end book value, price range,
number of shares outstanding, and asset size variables are
collected from Moody's Bank Manual. The data for the rest of
the variables are obtained from FDIC Annual Re~orts.

Source: Author.

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LIST OF REFERENCES

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http://clevelandfed.org/research/workpaper/index.cfm
Best available copy

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Econometrics, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1983.

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Institutions' Insolvency and Failure", Invited Research Working
Paper No. 56, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, 1986.
Marcus, Alan J. and Israel Shaked, "The Valuation of FDIC Deposit
Insurance Using Option-Pricing Estimates," Journal of Money
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and Finance, 1977, 249-276.
McCulloch, J. Huston, "The Ohio S&L Crisis in Retrospect: Implications
for the Current Federal Deposit Insurance Crisis", paper presented
at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Conference on Bank Structure
and Competition, 1987.
Schwartz, Eduardo and Robert Van Order, "Valuing the Implicit Guarantee
of the Federal National Mortgage Association", Journal of
Real Estate Finance and Economics, 1988, 23-34.
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of Problem Banks," Journal of Finance, 1975, 21-36.
Thomson, James, "FSLIC Forbearance to Stockholders and the Value of
Savings and Loan Shares," Economic Review, Federal Reserve
Bank of Cleveland, 1987, 26-35.
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Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity,"
Econometrica, 1980, 817-838.