01752cas a2200253 a 4500 AALejournalIMF014172 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781484386880 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Che, Natasha. Financial Soundness Indicators and the Characteristics of Financial Cycles / Natasha Che, Yoko Shinagawa. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2014. 1 online resource (26 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students Better 'financial soundness' of banks could help mitigate the volatility of financial cycles by reducing banks' risk exposure. But trying to improve financial soundness in the midst of a downturn can do the opposite-further aggravating the contraction of credit. Consistent with this notion, the paper found that better initial scores in certain financial soundness indicators (FSIs) are associated with milder and shorter downturns; and improving FSIs during a downturn worsens the shrinkage of credit and amplifies the cycle. In this context, our results suggest that policy makers should be mindful about the timing of regulating changes in banks' FSIs. Mode of access: Internet Shinagawa, Yoko. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2014/014 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2014/014/001.2014.issue-014-en.xml IMF e-Library