When the remedy is the problem: Risk governance in independent bank boards - Dietmar Leisen

We study the independence ratio, as well as the financial expertise of independent directors for 625 U.S. bank holding companies (BHC) from 2000 to 2015, to concentrate on causes of the subprime crisis: short-termism, poor monitoring, and excessive risk-taking. Following Enron and Sabanes-Oxley, independence ratios rised; while official responses to the subprime crisis claim that (even then) bank directors were not independent enough, we find that higher independence ratios decrease the monitoring quality of the board and increase short-term incentives for the CEO. Finally, boards with a higher fraction of independent directors decrease standard measures of bank risk, but promote tail risk taking.