Towards measuring the aggregate index of banking stability in Iraq for the period 2010 -2016

Abstract

Abstract: The paper aims to measure an aggregated banking stability index reflecting the degree of stability of the banking system to help policy makers to take the necessary actions to avoid financial crises facing banks and to achieve a banking system with high efficiency in terms of banking risk. Therefore, the problem of paper is that the Central Bank of Iraq did not seek until 2016 to build a aggregated index for the purpose of identifying the stability of the banking situation in Iraq, but rather on the adoption of scattered indicators, which depend on the mechanism of relative changes in those indicators for the purpose of identifying the situation of banking stability and this procedure is difficult in determining the stability of banking in Iraq. The paper, after using quarterly data during the period 2010-2016, could construction of the aggregate index as a first step, which reflects the state of banking stability in Iraq. In doing so, it relied on the weighted average method of construction. The bank stability index is an advanced approach and is consistent with the developments by the central banks in the world. it is a tool for predicting crises and not a means of any guidance panel through which banks can avoid crises and thus is a complementary tool to the Basel Committee, which established the laws and ratios to be committed by banks to avoid crises. Through the aggregate index, the banking stability in Iraq witnessed continuous fluctuations during the period (2016-2010). The index registered the lowest rate of banking stability in the first quarter of 2011 and the highest rate of banking stability in the fourth quarter of 2013. Therefore, it was recommended that the Central Bank of Iraq should work on the aggregate index which reflects the level of banking stability, which is an early warning tool for predicting banking crises, which was implemented as a preliminary step in this research based on the experiences of the central banks in the world in order to consolidate and strengthen banking supervision in Iraq in line with the banking challenges in the course of banking globalization