Does the Control of the Board of the Bank Encourage Its Stability? The Survey of Corporate Governance Practices in Europe in the Years 2003–2014 (Czy kontrola zarzadu banku sprzyja jego stabilnosci? Badanie praktyk corporate governance w Europie w latach 2003–2014)

Abstract

Due to the importance of the function that banks fulfil in the economy, the attention paid to the application of the principles of corporate governance appears to be strongly justified. The mission of social utility requires banks to maintain stability, liquidity and solvency of the entire sector. However, the examples of fraud that took place during the recent financial crisis could propel the reflection and raise many questions about the effectiveness of the control of risk managers in the banking sector. The aim of the study is to verify the impact of changes in the rules of corporate governance, in particular in the field of auditing and monitoring boards for the stability of commercial banks. In this regard, the following questions will be answered: do the changes in auditing and monitoring boards of banks reduce credit risk? In countries with a significant intensification of the phenomenon of moral hazard, is the risk of loss of stability controlled through auditing and monitoring boards of banks? The added value of this analysis is the use of a number of individual measures of corporate governance in individual banks, instead of one measure based on the overall index. The study was conducted in the period 2003–2014, for 81 commercial banks from 20 European countries. The survey results were ambiguous, calling into question a growing share of the corporate governance rules in the factors affecting the stability of banks.