How do banks manage their capital during uncertainty?

Abstract

The paper investigates the impact of EPU on bank capital in the U.S. from 2001–2020. The empirical results show that banks hold more capital when encountering high EPU. This effect increases with the bank size, meaning that the larger banks hold more capital during increasing EPU. Interestingly, further analyses reveal that worst-capitalized banks decrease their capital ratio when EPU elevates. The results are robust under different econometric methods and alternative proxies of uncertainty and bank capital.