Bancair Risicomanagement: een historisch onderzoek naar Nederlands grootste banken en hun financiële risicomanagement in de periode 1991 tot en met 2012

Abstract

This thesis examines three of the biggest banks in the Netherlands and the development of risk management within these institutions from 1992 to 2012. The goal of this research is to examine the development of risk management and the development of financial risk taking in a select number of banks to research a connection between these developments and subsequent governmental aid after the credit crisis in 2007. Utilising only public sources such as annual reports and annual statements,a never before seen Dutch risk management index is constructed. Subsequently, leverage ratios are measured, using a mixture of Basel II and the proposed Basel III, thereby measuring the financial health of the biggest Dutch banks over a longer period of time than usually seen in annual reports and economic research. The measured results seem to imply that there has been no connection or very little connection between the development of risk management in the selected banks and risk taking propensity, thereby implying that the mere presence of risk management institutions does not automatically create a risk awareness corporate culture. This has especially been the case with ABN AMRO. ING might also have lacked the necessary culture to acknowledge risks as risk management was initially not discussed by the board of directors. The fact that Rabobank (a cooperative bank) has had an accelerated development of risk management institutions and lacked a high-exposure risk taking securities portfolio, seems to support the conclusion that ownership structure has been of fundamental importance whether or not governmental aid was needed after the credit crisis in 2007. This thesis thereby adds both to the body of economical historical research and the public debate and can be of importance in future governmental regulation and the writing of new banking guidelines, both by regulatory committees and within banks themselves.

This thesis was awarded 80 out of 100 by Spinoza grant winner prof. dr. J.L. van Zanden.