US vs. euro area: Who drives cross-border bank lending to EMs?

This paper analyzes the drivers of cross-border bank lending to 49 Emerging Markets (EMs) during the period 1990Q1–2014Q4, by assessing the impact of monetary, financial and real sector shocks in both the US and the euro area. The literature has traditionally highlighted the influence of US monetary policy on driving cross-border bank flows, and more recently the importance of both US and Euro Area (EA) financial/banking sectors’ related variables. Our contribution is the simultaneous analysis of the role of these US and EA drivers, as well as their interactions with real sector shocks. We corroborate the negative impact of US monetary policy tightening on cross-border lending to EMs, but we find that EA monetary policy seems to have an impact mostly on Emerging Europe, reflecting the fact that cross-border lending to most other EM regions is dollar denominated. We also find that real sector shocks in both the US and EA trigger an increase in cross-border lending, but less in EA when modeling the financial sector. Finally, for financial sector shocks, such as those associated with a decrease in bank leverage, our results indicate a broad-based overall contraction of cross-border lending if the shock originates in the US, and heterogenous effects across borrowing regions if the shock originates in the EA.     

Microdata Evidence on the Bank Lending Channel in the Netherlands

This study contributes to the empirical evidence on the lending channel in the Netherlands using individual bank data. The main conclusion is that a lending channel is operative in the Netherlands. However, it is only operative for unsecured lending and not for secured lending, possibly because loans with government guarantees get special treatment by banks. Effects of monetary tightening on unsecured lending are more negative for smaller, less liquid and less capitalised banks, in line with the lending channel theory. The contribution of this study is that it gives evidence that the monetary policy impact on bank lending also depends on the market segment in which a bank is active. The evidence suggests that the policy impact is weaker on credit to households than it is on lending to firms.     

Lending Rate Spread Shock and Monetary Policy Arrangements: A Small Open Economy Model for ASEAN Countries

We investigate the welfare implications of monetary policy arrangements in a small open economy, considering firms' bank‐based finances that are widely observed in emerging ASEAN countries. The impact of an unexpected change in the lending rate spread, or a lending rate spread shock, depends on the presence of banking activity in the economy. This presence is important in Malaysia and Vietnam, where welfare effects of this type of shock are at least comparable to those of foreign monetary policy shocks. We also find that a rigid exchange rate arrangement amplifies the effect of a shock.     

Bank competition and monetary policy

There is an apparent theoretical discrepancy between the effects of monetary policy shocks on economies with differently competitive banking sectors. We employ cross-country data to investigate this hypothesis with two different approaches. First, using aggregate data we analyze the correlation between two indices: (i) a cumulative impulse response function providing an index of the effect of monetary policy shocks; and (ii) Panzar and Rosse's H-statistic as an index of the state of bank competition. Second, using disaggregated data we regress bank lending on the interaction of bank competition and monetary policy shocks. The first approach does not provide any evidence of a relationship between monetary policy shocks and bank competition. However, the second approach suggests that competition in the banking industry leads to smaller monetary policy effects on bank lending.     

Monetary policy transmission through the bank lending channel in Thailand

This paper investigates the strength of the bank lending channel in the transmission of monetary policy in Thailand. Bank behavior is captured by quarterly balance sheet data for ten commercial banks of diverse size for the period 2007-2016. Based on a flexible form profit function, bank supply and demand equations are estimated that capture lending and funding choices. The estimation results are used to derive time-dependent supply and demand elasticities which are then combined with estimates of pass-through from the policy rate to retail rates to simulate the dynamic impact of a monetary tightening on bank portfolio allocations. Due to pass-through differentials among retail interest rates, an increase in the policy rate is shown to raise the cost of loan-production relative to the return on loans, thereby motivating banks to contract their lending. Small banks show a greater degree of loan contraction than large banks because large banks are better able to fund continued lending through debt issuance. Because the Thai economy relies heavily on bank loans, these findings suggest that the bank lending channel is an important conduit for the transmission of monetary policy in Thailand.     

The Effects of Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

This paper presents evidence on the monetary transmission processin the euro area, based on macroeconomic data and on micro dataon banks. According to the estimations of macro vector autoregressionand macroeconometric models, a monetary policy tightening significantlyreduces output and—after a time lag—also prices.The effect on output is temporary, while that on prices is permanent.Clear patterns of significant asymmetries in the monetary policyeffects across countries do not emerge. The estimations basedon micro data on banks show that the main factor that determinesthe average bank's response to monetary policy is its degreeof liquidity: the lower its share of liquid assets in totalassets, the more strongly does a bank reduce its lending inresponse to a monetary tightening. Bank size does not emergeas an important factor for a bank's reaction to monetary policy.These results hold for virtually all member countries of theEuropean Monetary Union, despite the differences in their bankingsystems.     

Policy rate pass-through and the adjustment of retail interest rates: Empirical evidence from Malaysian financial institutions

The paper examines the interest rate pass-through from money market rates to various retail rates in Malaysia within the framework of an error-correction model. We estimate the short- and long-run interest rate pass-through and analyse the asymmetric behaviour of financial institutions under different monetary regimes. The results show that both deposit and lending rate pass-throughs are incomplete. However, pass-through and speed of adjustment vary across financial institutions and retail rates. This analysis also shows that interest rate adjustments are asymmetric, with more significant adjustments taking place under monetary easing than under monetary tightening. These results provide support for the existence of the interest rate channel of monetary policy in Malaysia. There is thus a need to conduct effective monetary operations to support efficient monetary transmission in Malaysia.     

Bank profitability and the bank lending channel: Evidence from China

This paper uses bank-level data to investigate whether the impact of monetary policy on bank lending depends on the characteristics of Chinese banks during the period 1985–2007. We find that the impact of monetary policy on lending is weaker for larger banks and banks with lower levels of liquidity, and that banks’ responses to monetary policy do not necessarily vary according to their capital. Further, to identify the bank lending channel more clearly, we test whether the impact of monetary policy varies according to profitability. The results show that profitable banks tend to be less sensitive to monetary policy, because when tight monetary policy leads to a fall in deposits, less profitable banks face a higher cost of capital.     

The effectiveness of monetary policy in China: Evidence from a Qual VAR

Analyzing monetary policy in China is not straightforward because the People's Bank of China (PBoC) implements policy by using more than one instrument. In this paper we use a Qual VAR, a conventional VAR system augmented with binary policy announcements, to extract a latent indicator of tightening and easing pressure, respectively, for China. The model acknowledges that policy announcements are endogenous and summarizes policy by a single indicator. The Qual VAR allows us to study the impact of monetary policy in terms of unexpected changes in these latent variables, which we identify using sign restrictions. We show that the transmission of monetary policy impulses to the rest of the economy is similar to the transmission process in advanced economies in terms of both output growth and inflation despite a very different monetary policy framework. We find that bank loans are not sensitive to policy changes, which implies that window guidance is still a necessary policy tool. We also find that the impact of monetary policy shocks is asymmetric in terms of asset prices, that is, the asset price reactions differ in their sensitivity to tightening shocks and easing shocks, respectively. In particular, an easing of monetary conditions boosts stock prices while a tightening shock leaves stock prices unaffected. This shows that monetary policy is not a suitable tool to stabilize asset prices, which raises implications for financial stability and macroprudential policy.     

The transmission mechanism of monetary policy in Japan: Evidence from banks' balance sheets

We examine how banks' responses to monetary policy vary according to their balance sheet using Japanese bank data from 1975 to 1999. We find that the effect of monetary policy on lending is stronger for banks that are smaller, less liquid, and more abundant with capital. The effects of bank balance sheet on monetary transmission are different by bank types, policy stances and borrowers' industries. Our results imply that a lending channel of monetary transmission exists, that the effect of expansionary monetary policy is attenuated if banks' capital is scarce, and that the effect of monetary policy on the allocation of funds depends on banks' balance sheets. J. Japanese Int. Economies 20 (3) (2006) 380–405.     

Transmission mechanism of monetary policy in India

This paper examines the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in India. Considering the external constraints on monetary policy, it estimates a series of vector autoregression models to examine the effects of an unanticipated monetary policy tightening on the real sector. The empirical results suggest that the lending rate initially increases in response to a monetary tightening. Banks play an important role in the transmission of monetary policy shocks to the real sector.     

Soft budget constraints, bank capital, and the monetary transmission mechanism

This paper investigates the effect of monetary policy in a situation where soft budget constraint problems prevail in the economy and the bank faces a capital requirement. Under these circumstances, an expansionary monetary policy may increase quantity of bank lending without improving the quality and thus may not stimulate economic activity. On the other hand, in order to solve the problem of soft budget constraint problems and to improve the quality of bank lending, the quantity of bank lending should be decreased. Central authorities need to keep this tradeoff in mind when exercising monetary policy and injecting public funds.     

DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF MONETARY POLICY SHOCKS IN MALAWI

This paper sets out to investigate the process through which monetary policy affects economic activity in Malawi. Using innovation accounting in a structural vector autoregressive model, it is established that monetary authorities in Malawi employ hybrid operating procedures and pursue both price stability and high growth and employment objectives. Two operating targets of monetary policy are identified, viz., bank rate and reserve money, and it is demonstrated that the former is a more effective measure of monetary policy than the latter. The study also illustrates that bank lending, exchange rates and aggregate money supply contain important additional information in the transmission process of monetary policy shocks in Malawi. Furthermore, it is shown that the floatation of the Malawi Kwacha in February 1994 had considerable effects on the country's monetary transmission process. In the post‐1994 period, the role of exchange rates became more conspicuous than before although its impact was weakened, and the importance of aggregate money supply and bank lending in transmitting monetary policy impulses was enhanced. Overall, the monetary transmission process evolved from a weak, blurred process to a somewhat strong, less ambiguous mechanism.     

Financial Deregulation and the Bank Lending Channel in Developing Countries: The Case of Indonesia

The dominant role of commercial banks as a source of finance and the considerable asymmetry of information in financial markets in developing countries have raised an argument that the bank lending channel of monetary transmission mechanism would be very important in such countries. This study addresses the issue by investigating empirically whether there are differential effects of monetary policy on banks' balance sheets, and its implications to the existence of the bank lending channel of monetary policy in Indonesia, especially since the early 1980s when the government adopted a policy of financial deveculation. We find significant differences of balance sheet behaviour across bank classes in response to a change in monetary policy, consistent with the predictions of the bank lending view. We also found that because of access to foreign funds and the existence of bank loan commitment, the monetary policy was unable to constrain loan supply by the large (state) banks, indicating that the bank lending channel operates through smaller (non-state) banks.     

The lending channel of monetary policy in Indonesia

This study evaluates the bank lending channel of monetary policy in Indonesia by using quarterly bank-level data over the period of 2005-2016. I find that the lending channel of monetary policy works for all banks, both large and small. The results suggest that higher capital buffers and better liquidity positions moderate the impact of changes in monetary policy on credit growth for large banks, while capital buffers and liquidity positions do not alter the strength of the lending channel for small banks. The findings indicate that the central bank can use prudential instruments affecting capital buffers and liquidity positions for managing the strength of adjustment in the monetary policy interest rate on bank credit growth.     

Bank loans and the effects of monetary policy in China: VAR/VECM approach

In this paper, we test the differential effects of monetary policy shock on aspects of banks' balance sheets (deposits, loans, and securities) across bank categories (aggregate banks, state banks, and non-state banks) as well as on macroeconomic variables (output, consumer price index, exports, imports, and foreign exchange reserves). We do so by estimating VAR/VEC Models to uncover the transmission mechanisms of China's monetary policy. Also we identify the cointegrating vectors to establish the long-run relationship between these variables. By using monthly aggregate bank data and disaggregated data on bank and loan types from 1996 to 2006, our study suggests the existence of a bank lending channel, an interest rate channel and an asset price channel. Furthermore, we discuss and explore the distribution and growth effects of China's monetary policy on China's real economy. In addition, we investigate the effects of China's monetary policy on China's international trade. Finally, we identify the cointegrating vectors among these variables and set up VEC Models to uncover the long-run relationships that connect the indicators of monetary policy, bank balance sheet variables and the macroeconomic variables in China.     

Does bank competition affect the transmission mechanism of monetary policy through bank lending channel? Evidence from India

This paper empirically investigates how intensified competition in the Indian banking affects the transmission of monetary policy through bank lending channel over the period 1997–2017. Additionally, this study examines the impact of deposit and loan market channels on bank’s credit growth. Results obtained through two-step system-GMM reveal that a higher degree of market power weakens the monetary policy transmission mechanism for the entire banking industry and across ownerships. Results show that higher market power in the deposit and loan markets weakens the impact of monetary policy on bank loan supply. The findings of this study extend important policy measures that can strengthen the transmission mechanism of monetary policy by reducing the adverse effects of changes in bank competition.     

Bank dependency on foreign funding and global liquidity shocks: The importance of US monetary policy for a developing country

We examine international spillover effects of US monetary policy on bank lending in Cambodia, using unique data about loan disbursements and the funding structures of Cambodian banks from 2013Q1 to 2019Q2. The banking sector in a developing country is likely dependent on foreign funding, while the dependency could be the source of vulnerability to international monetary and economic conditions. We empirically document that US monetary policy is likely to be transmitted to Cambodian bank lending through foreign funding. We also document that Cambodian banks change their risk-taking behavior in response to the spillover effects of US monetary policy. Furthermore, these results are robust for US monetary policy, but weak and not robust for the monetary policies of the Cambodian bank’s major shareholders’ home countries, suggesting that US monetary policy should be primarily taken into account in supervising banks that are reliant on foreign funding, in addition to domestic economic conditions.     

Sectoral Effects of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Malaysia

The present paper analyzes the effects of monetary policy shocks on aggregate and eight sectoral outputs for Malaysia using vector autoregressive models. In line with many existing studies on Malaysia, the results are supportive of the real effects of monetary policy shocks. More importantly, we find evidence suggesting sector-specific responses to innovations in monetary policy. In response to positive interest rate shocks, we note that the manufacturing, construction, finance, insurance, real estate and business services sectors seem to decline more than aggregate production. By contrast, we observe the relative insensitivities of agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining and quarrying, electricity, gas and water to interest rate changes. The results, therefore, seem to confirm potential disparities in the effect of monetary policy on real sectoral activities.     

Influence of the Banks' Money Mediation Behavior on the Monetary Policy: A Study of Korean Case

Abstract

This paper analyses how financial institutions' arbitrary intermediation behaviors, including adjustments in bank lending and deposit rates, influence monetary policy transmission channels. For the analysis, we develop a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (NK DSGE) model with parameters estimated to fit the Korean conditions. The role of banks is subsequently examined by classifying monetary policy transmission channels (real rate channel, nominal debt channel, financial accelerating channel, and banking attenuator channel). A notable part of this analysis is the inclusion of the banking sector in the model specifically with the intent to study transmissions from the financial sector to the real economy. This paper follows this line of inquiry with recent research in mind. Empirical analysis verifies the existence of the banking attenuator effect in Korea, which means banks act to reduce the effect of monetary policies. This indicates that if financial intermediaries strengthen arbitrary adjustment behaviors of lending and deposit rates, the effect of the monetary policy intended to relieve volatility in the business cycle may not be as high as expected.