CAMELS parameters’ impact on the risk of losing financial stability: The case of Russian banks

Abstract

The banking sector stability determines the financial immunity of a national economy. Current economic and political tensions precondition the need for predicative diagnosis of factors behind a decrease in a bank’s financial stability taking into account national specificities. The paper aims to explore the impact of intrabank parameters on a risk of deteriorated financial stability of Russian banks. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of financial management as applied to the banking practice. The research methods include content analysis, multiple regression, and logit modelling. The evidence comes from the published financial statements of Russian banks for 2018–2023. The paper suggests an approach for rating banks according to their financial stability and develops logit models for evaluating the risk of losing financial stability based on the CAMELS parameters. The analysis demonstrates a noticeable positive impact of the return on assets and a noticeable negative effect of the overdue loans share on a bank’s financial stability. At the same time, capital adequacy and current liquidity produce an ambiguous effect on the financial strength: they are significant only up to a certain point, after passing which they no longer exert any impact on the financial stability (the so-called “surplus paradox”). The study finds that the impact of the parameters differs for the mediumand long-term forecasting horizons: for a 6-month period, the return on assets is a more significant predictor of the financial instability risk, while the overdue loans share is more important for a 12-month period. The findings extend the understanding of the influence that bank’s internal factors have on their financial stability and can be useful in building the algorithms for analysing and forecasting banking risks.