Loan loss provisions capture the asset quality of banks ( Delis et al., 2014; Lee and Hsieh 2013 ). Banks have to maintain loan loss provisions if there is a possibility of loan impairments. Hence, higher loan loss provisioning indicates that banks are taking on more risky assets. Cebenoyan and Strahan (2004) use the standard deviation of the ratio of loan loss provisions to total loans to measure bank risk. Shrieves and Dahl (1992) emphasise that loan loss provisions in a given year reflect investment decisions made in preceding years. Hence, loan loss provisions can also reflect the aggressiveness of banks’ lending decisions.