This paper documents that sovereign creditworthiness could be a new dimension that explains foreign ownership in the banking sector. We employ consolidated financial results of the European Union (EU) member states over the period 2007–2021 and show that better sovereign credit ratings lead to an increase in foreign investments in the host country’s banking sector, as they may be linked with greater financial stability. Additional data on cross-country regulatory and supervisory practices show that this effect is mitigated in countries with tighter restrictions on banking activities and more independent supervisors. Results are robust to a wide range of cross-country banking, macroeconomic, and institutional conditions, and to alternative estimation methods that account for endogeneity. These findings bring new insights to the policy debate on banks’ foreign ownership and document new channels that may influence supervisors’ strategies regarding banking foreign direct investments.

本文证明，主权信用度可能是解释银行业外资所有权的一个新维度。我们采用了欧盟 (EU) 成员国 2007 年至 2021 年期间的综合财务结果，结果表明，更好的主权信用评级会导致东道国银行业的外国投资增加，因为这可能与更高的金融稳定性有关。有关跨国监管和监管实践的更多数据表明，在银行活动限制更严格且监管机构更独立的国家，这种影响会减轻。结果对于广泛的跨国银行、宏观经济和制度条件以及考虑内生性的替代估计方法都是稳健的。这些发现为有关银行外资所有权的政策辩论带来了新的见解，并记录了可能影响监管机构有关银行业外国直接投资策略的新渠道。