120 years of insight: Geopolitical risk and bank solvency

Abstract

What do 120 years of data say about the relationship between geopolitical risk and bank solvency? We find that a two standard deviation increase in a geopolitical risk index is associated with a decrease in the bank capital-to-asset ratio of around 0.2 percentage points. The effect is non-linear: only very high geopolitical risk leads to a sizeable decline in bank capitalisation, while more moderate increases of the index exert a negligible impact. This suggests that only major geopolitical events are likely to affect bank solvency to a degree that can endanger financial stability.