Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of non-performing loans in the Spanish banking system over the period 1997Q4-2015Q3. This timeframe includes not only the booming period for the Spanish economy but also an extended post-crises interval which is missing from other studies for Spain. Design/methodology/approach: Using quarterly data from the Central Bank of Spain and from the European Central Bank, the paper employs the ARDL approach to cointegration to identify the existence of a long or short-run relationship between NPLs and a set of macroeconomic, bank-related and country-specific indicators. Findings:Findings from the ARDL model indicate that macroeconomic, bank-specific variables and interest rates are important determinants of non-performing loans in the Spanish banking system. Specifically, the real GDP, the Spanish long-term government bond yield, the return on equity, the total credit granted by the Spanish banks and their capital to assets ratio, explain credit risk in Spain both in the short and the long run. Research limitations/implications:Data on the bank-specific variables are for the whole banking industry, and not for individual banks. If such data were available, a comparison of the credit risk determinants between small/ big banks, private/public or domestic/foreign could be possibly made. Originality/value: These findings provide useful evidence to bank managers and policymakers in dealing with loans' defaults in Spain and in undertaking crucial reforms to stabilize the economy.JEL Classifications C32, G17, G21

This study uses the ARDL approach to cointegration to identify the factors affecting credit risk in the Italian banking system over the period 1997Q4-2017Q1. The ratio of new bad loans to the outstanding amount of performing loans in the previous period is the selected proxy of credit risk whereas a wide range of explanatory variables are included in the study. Compared to the previous studies, a wider timeframe is investigated, which captures the booming period, the global financial crisis and the ongoing Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. The findings suggest that macroeconomic cyclical, bank-specific, and financial market variables affect the flow of new bad loans in the Italian banking system. The high significance of the sovereign debt crisis risk proxy signals the important link between banking and sovereign debt crisis.