Risk culture and banking supervision

Purpose: This paper aims to analyzing the main risk culture traits of a sample of Central Banks and Supervisory Authorities in Europe as well as of the European Central Bank (ECB). Design/methodology/approach: Risk culture is measured through text data processing of the official discourses made by the head Supervisory Authorities, during the years from 1999 to 2012. Findings: Results highlight heterogeneous but converging risk cultures for European Union (EU) supervisors and the presence of a “distance” between these cultures and the risk culture of the ECB. Originality/value: The paper points out that cultural differences, especially in presence of credit markets still characterized by poor integration, could create unwanted distortion effects during the initial stages of the Banking Union.