Modeling bank interest margin and loan quality under the troubled asset relief program: an option-pricing approach

The troubled assets on U.S. banks books could grow to as much as $5 trillion, one Goldman Sachs analyst estimates [10]. Will setting up the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) be good move for bank loan quality? The answer is yes. In an option-pricing model where the bank book value of loans is above its market price, an increase in loan amount sold, exactly what the TARP is meant to target, increases the bank interest margin. The gap where carrying value is above market price is shrinking by decreasing the risky loans held by the bank and thus the bank loan portfolio quality is improved.