监管处罚与商业银行风控岗位人力资本投入

Abstract

As an important external oversight mechanism for commercial banks, do regulatory penalties drive corresponding adjustments in the human capital structure within their risk management systems? This study finds that following regulatory penalties, branches of Chinese commercial banks significantly increase the proportion of their recruitment dedicated to risk control personnel. Mechanism analysis indicates that regulatory penalties undermine banks' financial and market performance via regulatory pressure and reputational loss, which in turn motivates them to augment human capital investment in risk control positions. The increased hiring is mainly driven by credit- and governance-related penalties and penalties stemming from risk control negligence; the relevant positions generally require high educational qualifications, extensive experience, and professional skills, indicating that regulatory penalties expose human capital deficiencies in risk control positions and motivate banks to implement targeted remediation through optimizing their risk control workforce. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that penalized banks with slower business expansion and those located in regions with sufficient talent supply are more inclined to increase such investment. Furthermore, hiring risk control personnel not only assists penalized banks in reducing subsequent regulatory penalties and enhancing their risk management, but also generates a positive spillover effect—driving unpenalized banks in the same region to increase their own hiring of such staff. This study reveals how regulatory penalties drive commercial banks to increase human capital investment, thereby promoting the establishment of a sound risk control system. It highlights the critical role of human capital in risk control positions in bank governance, expands the pathways through which financial supervision exerts micro-level governance effects, and provides useful insights for enhancing the effectiveness of regulatory policies and promoting high-quality development in the banking sector.