Bank soundness in the Latvian banking market

Abstract

Bank soundness is crucially important for the stability of the whole financial system. The goal of the paper is to reveal the contributing factors to bank soundness in the Latvian banking market. Multifactor regression analysis was applied as a core research method. Bank soundness was proxied by Risk index calculated for Latvian banks. Profitability, liquidity and asset quality ratios of individual banks extracted from BankScope data warehouse were used as explanatory variables. Research period covers 2007–2014. The regression model was created, based on financials of Latvian banks as for 2013. The reliability of the model was tested, using the financials from 2014 reports.