We address a three-period model of financial intermediaries that involves securitization of risky loan assets and asymmetric information. We show that the risk retention requirement with a fixed ratio, stipulated by the Dodd-Frank Act, might induce losses of social welfare in the sense that a bank might not utilize profitable investment opportunities due to the regulation, which leads to a downward jump in social welfare. We present various structures of social welfare with respect to the level of ‘skin in the game’, and clarify the necessity of countercyclical regulation by verifying that the social losses caused by current regulation become more severe during a recession. Furthermore, we verify how the financial market becomes volatile through securitization and leverage.

Master of Business Administration University of Nevada