IMF Working Papers

Credit Loss in Translation: Informing Bank Provisions and Capital Buffer Requirements with Forward-Looking Credit Loss Distributions

ByMarco Gross, Laurent Millischer

November 7, 2025

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Format: Chicago

Marco Gross, and Laurent Millischer. "Credit Loss in Translation: Informing Bank Provisions and Capital Buffer Requirements with Forward-Looking Credit Loss Distributions", IMF Working Papers 2025, 228 (2025), accessed 12/5/2025, https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229029803.001

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Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

We develop a model framework that can be used to derive the forward-looking credit loss distributions for banks' credit exposures, to use it for (1) assessing the adequacy of provisions at the bank-portfolio level; (2) macro stress testing; and (3) informing the sufficiency of capital requirements, both from a micro- and macro-prudential perspective. The model is semi-structural and simulation-based, entailing a large number of simulated macro-financial scenarios instead of employing handpicked scenarios and ad-hoc scenario weights. The way the model-based credit loss distributions are generated can be made compatible with IFRS 9 or any other accounting regime. The model codes are made available online along with this paper.

Subject: Collateral, Commercial banks, Countercyclical capital buffers, Credit, Financial institutions, Financial regulation and supervision, Loans, Money, Mortgages

Keywords: bank-portfolio level, Collateral, Commercial banks, countercyclical capital buffer, Countercyclical capital buffers, Credit, credit loss, Credit loss modeling, Global, IMF working papers, Loans, loss distribution, macroprudential policy, micro-prudential policy, Mortgages, North America, provisioning