• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.225-233
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• 2016

This study examined how the level of competition in the banking industry affects the risk-seeking tendency of individual banks. In earlier studies, the NPL ratio was used as an indicator of the risk-seeking tendency, but this ratio has limits because it is an ex post indicator of the risk. Therefore, the asset risk was chosen as a new indicator of the risk-seeking tendency, which is an ex ante measure of the risk, and the data were analyzed. The results suggested that there is a negative correlation between the level of competition of the banking industry and the risk-seeking tendency. Interestingly, opposite results were obtained when the NPL ratio was applied as an indicator of risk-seeking tendency. Therefore, the correlation between the level of competition in the banking industry and the risk-seeking tendency depends on the indicator of the risk-seeking tendency. This means choosing the appropriate indicator is the key component leading to precise results. The asset risk is more consistent with the concept of risk-seeking tendency than the NPL ratio, and it is a more appropriate indicator considering that the asset risk is a relatively less affected indicator other than risk-seeking tendencies.