Title: The readiness of commercial banks to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from G20

Authors: Osama F. Atayah; Haitham Nobanee; Ahmad Al-Hiyari

Addresses: Abu Dhabi University, Alain Read, Zayed City, 59911, Abu Dhabi, UAE ' Abu Dhabi University, Zayed City – Abu Dhabi, UAE; The University of Oxford, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK; The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK ' University of Khorfakkan, 87W+2P2 – Al Jaradia – Sharjah, UAE

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the readiness of banks operating in the G20 countries to respond to the expected loan loss and bad debt related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that banks operating in the G20 have significant differences in their readiness for the COVID-19 era. Italy, Turkey, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Russia have loan loss provision reserves to total loans higher than 5% in the year 2019, while Canada, Australia, UK, USA, and Germany have loan loss provision reserves to total loans lower than 2%. The loan loss provision reserves to total loans ratio has improved in the first quarter of the year 2020 for Argentina, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UK, and the USA. However, the loan loss provision reserves to total loans ratio have declined in the first quarter of the year 2020 for Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, Japan, and South Korea.

Keywords: loan loss provisions; LLPs; loan loss reserve; LLR; banks; G20; COVID-19; loans; credit risk.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2023.138101

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2023 Vol.15 No.4, pp.533 - 549

Received: 22 Oct 2023
Accepted: 25 Oct 2023
Published online: 29 Apr 2024 *

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