Table 1: Distribution of Bank Distress and Bank Default Events
This table presents descriptive statistics for bank default and bank distress events obtained from the distress database of
the Deutsche Bundesbank. The dummy variable Bank Distress refers to a broad definition of distress (including banks
exiting the market in a distressed merger or in a moratorium, but also capital support measures from the deposit insurance
funds), while the dummy variable Bank Default is an indicator for bank default (only comprising banks exiting the market
in a distressed merger or in a moratorium). The variable z-score is calculated as the ln of the ratio of Tier 1 capital and
operating profits of bank i to the standard deviation of operating profits where each position is measured relative to total
assets. Tier 1 capital and total assets are averaged over two years (“mid-point values”); to account for changes in the
volatility of profits over time the standard deviation of operating profits is calculated over a window of five years. The
sample comprises 37,529 bank-year observations on up to 5,035 banks over the period 1994–2010. Note that the z-score can
only be calculated for a sub-sample of bank-years (because of the “mid-point” calculation and the five-year time window).