Determinants of financial distress in large financial institutions : evidence from U.S. bank holding companies.

We investigate determinants of financial distress in large financial institutions based on the Distance-to-Default and Z-Scores measures. Using data of U.S. bank holding companies (BHCs), we find that the housing price index is a consistently significant factor across all BHCs and the non-performing loan ratio is the most powerful indicator for financial distress. Short-term wholesale funding is also a reliable default risk indicator. We additionally find that all the three regulatory capital requirements are very important for controlling default risk, particularly in the post-crisis period. (JEL C53, G14, G21, G28