Value Relevance of Add-back of Loan Loss Reserves

Abstract

Under the current bank regulatory capital framework, loan loss reserves (LLR) are added back to regulatory capital up to a certain limit (henceforth, ‘add-backs’). This study examines how equity investors value these addbacks. Decomposing LLR into add-backs and other LLR, we find that add-backs have positive value relevance if such add-backs increase total regulatory capital and other LLR has negative value relevance. This positive value relevance of add-backs is driven by banks with low capital levels. Our finding indicates that the market perceives add-backs as capital rather than as an expense.