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SIFIWATCH is an academic initiative on bank risk nowcasting

We use a web crawler to systematically browse the websites of financial institutions, banking supervisors, and central banks to collect the latest information about the major risks of banks, as currently defined by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
Based on this information, we update in real time our ranking of the banks that contribute the most to the risk of the global financial system, known as Systemically Important Financial Institutions or SIFIs, using exactly the same methodology as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
While the official list of SIFIs is disclosed every year in November, our ranking becomes publically available several months before! Hence, it provides early signals about changes in the risks of major banks.

Nowcasting is a statistical approach allowing to describe a phenomenon taking place now but for which a measure will only be available at one point in the future. Think about GDP or inflation figures always disclosed with a lag because it takes time to crunch all the required data.
SIFIs are the most vital components of the global financial system. As a result, any default of a SIFI would have a catastrophic impact on other banks in the system and on the real economy. Given their systemic importance, SIFI must be closely monitored by banking regulators and scrutinized by market participants and academics. This collective effort improves financial stability.
An individual bank, or even its national banking regulator, cannot know whether it is SIFI before collecting relevant information for all the banks in the global financial system. Hence this initiative!

SIFIWATCHers

CHRISTOPHE PERIGNON
HEC PARIS
SILVAIN BENOIT
University Paris-Dauphine
CHRISTOPHE HURLIN
University of Orleans