Long-term bank balance sheet management: Estimation and simulation of risk-factors

We propose a dynamic framework which encompasses the main risks in balance sheets of banks in an integrated fashion. Our contributions are fourfold: (1) solving a simple one-period model that describes the optimal bank policy under credit risk; (2) estimating the long-term stochastic processes underlying the risk factors in the balance sheet, taking into account the credit and interest rate cycles; (3) simulating several scenarios for interest rates and charge-offs; and (4) describing the equations that govern the evolution of the balance sheet in the long run. The models that we use address momentum and the interaction between different rates. Our results enable simulation of bank balance sheets over time given a bank’s lending strategy and provides a basis for an optimization model to determine bank asset–liability management strategy endogenously.     

发达经济体中央银行资产负债表管理及对我国的启示

中央银行资产负债表既是表示自身财务状况的会计报表,也是中央银行法定职责履行情况的综合反映。近年来,央行资产负债表正逐步成为公众评价货币政策效果、形成政策预期的重要渠道,同时,各国央行也更加关注自身资产负债表的持续健康问题。本文通过分析2006年以来部分发达经济体央行的资产负债表规模和结构变化,重点揭示了其防范和降低资产负债表风险所采取的控制措施,以期为央行更好地开展资产负债表管理提供参考。     

基层央行资产负债表健康性审计研究

央行资产负债表的状况是公众评价货币政策效果和形成政策预期的重要渠道。资产负债表的真实性和健康性越来越受到公众的关注,央行的资产负债表健康性审计也逐渐成为央行内审工作的重要内容。本文结合开展央行资产负债表健康性审计的意义,着眼于基层央行的实际情况,提出了基层央行资产负债表健康性的三项标准,明确了基层央行资产负债表健康性审计的主要内容、审计方法,初步构建了资产负债表审计框架。     

When does a central bank׳s balance sheet require fiscal support?

Using a simple, general equilibrium model, we argue that it would be appropriate for a central bank with a large balance sheet composed of long-duration nominal assets to have access to, and be willing to ask for, support for its balance sheet by the fiscal authority. Otherwise its ability to control inflation may be at risk. This need for balance sheet support — a within-government transaction — is distinct from the need for fiscal backing of inflation policy that arises even in models where the central bank׳s balance sheet is merged with that of the rest of the government.     

Sources of Bank Interest Rate Risk

We investigate bank stocks'sensitivity to changes in interest rates and the factors affecting this sensitivity. We focus on whether the exposure of commercial banks to interest rate risk is conditioned on certain balance sheet and income statement ratios. We find a significantly negative relation between bank stock returns and changes in interest rates over the period 1991–1996. We also find that bank characteristics measured from basic financial statement information explain bank stocks'sensitivity to interest rate changes. These results suggest that bank managers, analysts, and regulators can use this information to assess the relative risk exposure of banks.     

Fiscal Consequences of Paying Interest on Reserves

We review the role of the central bank's balance sheet in a textbook monetary model and explore what changes if the central bank is allowed to pay interest on its liabilities. When the central bank (CB) cannot pay interest, away from the zero lower bound its (real) balance sheet is limited by the demand for money. Furthermore, if securities are not marked to market and the central bank holds its bonds to maturity, it is impossible for the CB to make losses, and it always obtains profits from being a monopoly provider of money. When the option of paying interest on liabilities is allowed, the limit on the CB's balance sheet is lifted. In this case, the CB is free to take on interest‐rate risk – for example, by buying long‐term securities and financing those purchases with short‐term debt that pays the market interest rate. This is a risky enterprise that can lead to additional profits but also to losses. To the extent that losses exceed the profits of the monopoly operations, the CB faces two options: either it is recapitalised by Treasury or it increases its monopoly profits by raising the inflation tax.     

Why do small businesses have difficulty in accessing bank financing?

This study investigates bank financing to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and evaluates whether the difficulties of SMEs in accessing bank financing during a period of financial crisis are due to a reduction in the supply of credit, or to a decrease in the demand for credit. The results show that the macroeconomic setting matters: demand effects are unlikely to drive the decline in the stock of bank loans, while the supply of credit causes SMEs difficulties in accessing bank credit. During a crisis period, in particular, an increase in the risk of lenders leads to the reduced supply of credit and credit rationing (i.e. the bank lending channel). In a post-crisis period, SMEs with increased risk and decreased profits have great difficulties in securing bank loans (i.e. the borrower balance sheet channel). Taken together, these results suggest that supply effects initially emerge through the bank-lending channel and then shift to the borrower balance sheet channel over a period of financial crisis.     

Bank Failure,Mark‐to‐market and the Financial Crisis

This paper is concerned with the allegation that fair value accounting rules have contributed significantly to the recent financial crisis. It focuses on one particular channel for that contribution: the impact of fair value on the actual or potential failure of banks. The paper compares four criteria for failure: one economic, two legal and one regulatory. It is clear from this comparison that balance sheet valuations of assets are, in two cases, crucial in these definitions, and so the choice between ‘fair value’ or other valuations can be decisive in whether a bank fails; but in two cases fair value is irrelevant. Bank failures might arise despite capital adequacy and balance sheet solvency due to sudden shocks to liquidity positions. Two of the most prominent bank failures cannot, at first sight, be attributed to fair value accounting: we show that Northern Rock was balance sheet solvent, even on a fair value basis, as was Lehman Brothers. The case study evidence is augmented by econometric tests that suggest that mark‐to‐market accounting has had only a very limited influence on the perceived failure risk of banks.     

Bank Holding Company Acquisition Activity: Evidence From Pre- and Post-Deregulation Periods

Both acquisition activity and deregulation have had an impact upon share price and performance of commercial bank holding companies. The purpose of this study is twofold: First, to discern the effects of acquisition activity from the effects of the passage of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) and Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 (GSG) on balance sheet composition of bank holding companies; and second, to examine the effects of deregulation on returns to shareholders of acquiring bank holding companies. This study finds that commercial bank holding companies involved in acquisitions experience significant changes in their balance sheet composition, not as a result of acquisition activity, but as a result of deregulation. Additionally, bank holding companies that announced acquisitions prior to the effective date of deregulation earned abnormal returns that were significantly negative, whereas holding companies announcing acquisitions after enactment of deregulation earned returns that were not significantly different from zero. Also, the abnormal returns found in previous studies of bank acquisitions may be biased upward because of increases in systematic risk associated with the passage of DIDMCA and GSG.     

Size Anomalies in U.S. Bank Stock Returns

The largest commercial bank stocks, ranked by total size of the balance sheet, have significantly lower risk‐adjusted returns than small‐ and medium‐sized bank stocks, even though large banks are significantly more levered. We uncover a size factor in the component of bank returns that is orthogonal to the standard risk factors, including small minus big, which has the right covariance with bank returns to explain the average risk‐adjusted returns. This factor measures size‐dependent exposure to bank‐specific tail risk. These findings are consistent with government guarantees that protect shareholders of large banks, but not small banks, in disaster states.     

Bank Diversification and Overall Financial Strength: International Evidence

There are many studies in the finance and management literature that examine the impact of diversification on performance. Yet, the literature remains inconclusive as for the potential benefits in terms of risk and return. The present study aims to re‐examine this issue, while proposing a methodological framework that integrates various bank performance and risk indicators into a single measure of financial strength. Using an international sample of commercial banks, we find that diversification in terms of income, earning assets, and on‐ and off‐balance sheet activities influences positively their financial strength. We also find that income diversification can be more beneficial for banks operating in less developed countries compared to banks in advanced and major advanced economies. However, we observe the opposite in the case of diversification between off‐balance sheet and on‐balance sheet activities. Furthermore, the results reveal that income and earning assets diversification can mitigate the adverse effect of the financial crisis on bank financial strength. We continue to find a positive relationship between diversification and financial strength when we account for nesting effects, endogeneity, as well as when using an alternative approach for the construction of the financial strength indicator.     

New Evidence on the Determinants of Bank Risk

This paper uses equity returns for publicly traded US bank holding companies (BHCs) from 1997 to 2004 to identify the determinants of risk, measured by equity market volatility, and examine how they have evolved. The results indicate that balance sheet items such as commercial and industrial loans and consumer lending and income statement items such as other noninterest income drive the cross-sectional differences in BHC risk. Newly mandated regulatory data on the components of other noninterest income show that investment banking, servicing, securitization income, gains from loan sales, gains other asset sales, and other noninterest income are particularly volatile activities. This highlights the value of increased transparency as a means to improve market discipline and reduce the opacity of complex financial institutions. Finally, in the years after 2000, the locus of risk has shifted off of the balance sheet and onto the income statement as investors identify the new risks associated with evolving and expanding bank activities.     

Bank portfolio choice with private information about loan quality: Theory and implications for regulation

This paper models bank asset choice when shareholders know more about loan quality than do outsiders. Because of this informational asymmetry, the price of loans in the secondary market is the price for poor quality loans. Banks desire to hold marketable securities in order to avoid liquidating good quality loans at the ‘lemons’ price, but also have a countervailing desire to hold risky loans in order to maximize the value of deposit insurance. In this context, portfolio composition and bank safety is examined as a function of the market distribution of loan quality, and the distribution of deposits. The model suggests that off-balance sheet commitments have little effect on bankruptcy risk, and induce banks to hold more securities. We also show that an increase in the bank equity requirement will unambiguously increase bank safety in the long run. In the short run, banks are unambiguously riskier on-balance sheet, although the effect on bank safety is ambiguous.     

The Bank Lending Channel Revisited

A central proposition in research on the role of banks in the transmission mechanism is that monetary policy imparts a direct impact on deposits and that deposits act as the driving force of bank lending. This paper argues that the emphasis on policy‐induced changes in deposits is misplaced. A reformulation of the bank lending channel is proposed that works primarily through the impact of monetary policy on banks’ balance sheet strength and risk perception. Such a recasting implies, contrary to conventional wisdom, that greater reliance on market‐based funding enhances the importance of the channel.     

A model of unconventional monetary policy

We develop a quantitative monetary DSGE model with financial intermediaries that face endogenously determined balance sheet constraints. We then use the model to evaluate the effects of the central bank using unconventional monetary policy to combat a simulated financial crisis. We interpret unconventional monetary policy as expanding central bank credit intermediation to offset a disruption of private financial intermediation. Within our framework the central bank is less efficient than private intermediaries at making loans but it has the advantage of being able to elastically obtain funds by issuing riskless government debt. Unlike private intermediaries, it is not balance sheet constrained. During a crisis, the balance sheet constraints on private intermediaries tighten, raising the net benefits from central bank intermediation. These benefits may be substantial even if the zero lower bound constraint on the nominal interest rate is not binding. In the event this constraint is binding, though, these net benefits may be significantly enhanced.     

我国货币发行机制探讨——基于央行和商业银行资产负债表的分析

我国外汇储备不断增加,使得外汇占款和基础货币持续增加。本文通过商业银行和中央银行的资产负债表分析了我国外汇储备增加对基础货币发行的影响机制。并比较分析了央行通过买卖央行票据和国债对基础货币发行的影响。目前,央行减少外汇储备主要通过建立投资公司,笔者分析了财政部发行特别国债购买外汇,并将外汇注资国家外汇投资公司对基础货币发行的影响。财政部发行特别国债有两种方式．一是间接向中央银行发行,二是直接向市场发行。本文还研究了这两种发行方式对货币供给的影响机制及对中央银行货币政策操作的指导意义。本文进一步分析了独立投资公司购买外汇对基础货币的影响。最后．本文给出了主要结论。     

Bank risk and monetary policy

We find evidence of a bank lending channel operating in the euro area via bank risk. Financial innovation and the wider use of new ways of transferring credit risk have tended to diminish the informational content of standard bank balance sheet indicators. We show that bank risk conditions, as perceived by financial market investors, need to be considered, together with the other indicators (i.e., size, liquidity and capitalization), traditionally used in the bank lending channel literature to assess banks’ ability and willingness to supply new loans. Using a large sample of European banks, we find that banks characterized by lower expected default frequency are able to offer a larger amount of credit and to better insulate their loan supply from monetary policy changes.     

Bank capital (requirements) and credit supply: Evidence from pillar 2 decisions

We analyze how time-varying bank-specific capital requirements affect bank lending to the non-financial corporate sector as well as banks' balance sheet adjustments. To do so, we relate Pillar 2 capital requirements to a comprehensive corporate credit register coupled with bank and firm balance sheet data. Our analysis consists of three components. First, we investigate how capital requirements affect the supply of bank credit to the corporate sector, both on the intensive and extensive margin, as well as for different types of credit. Subsequently, we document how bank and firm characteristics as well as the monetary policy stance impact the relationship between bank capital requirements and the supply of credit. Finally, we examine how time-varying bank-specific capital requirements affect banks' balance sheet composition.     

Firm balance sheets and monetary policy transmission

The functioning of internal capital markets in financial conglomerates facilitates a novel identification strategy of the balance sheet channel of monetary policy. We look at small subsidiary banks that are affiliated with the same holding company but operate in different geographical areas. These banks face the same marginal cost of funds due to internal capital markets, but face different borrowers as they concentrate their lending with small local businesses. Exploring cross-sectional variation in local economic conditions across these subsidiaries, we investigate whether borrower creditworthiness influences the response of bank lending to monetary policy. Our results are consistent with a demand-driven transmission mechanism that works through firm balance sheets and is independent from the bank lending channel.     

Normalizing the Central Bank's Balance Sheet: Implications for Inflation and Debt Dynamics

We explore the effects of reducing the overall size of the central bank's balance sheet and lowering its maturity structure. To do so, we consider an environment where fiscal policy is traditionally passive and the central bank follows the Taylor principle. In addition, the monetary authority has also explicit size and compositional rules regarding its balance sheet. Agents in this economy face limited commitment in some markets and government bonds can be used as collateral. When short- and long-term public debt exhibit premia, changes in the central bank's balance sheet have implications for long-run inflation and real allocations. To ensure a unique locally stable steady state, the central bank should target a low enough maturity composition of its balance sheet. In our numerical exercise, calibrated to the United States, we find that long-term debt holdings by the central bank should be less than 0.5 times of their short-term positions. Moreover, the process of balance sheet normalization should aggressively respond to the total debt issued in the economy relative to its target. These findings depend on the degree of liquidity of long-term bonds. The more liquid long-term bonds are, the lower is the value of the composition threshold and the parameter space consistent with unique and stable equilibria is smaller. In addition, we consider a modified Taylor rule that takes into account the premium. Such a rule increases the prevalence of multiplicity of steady states and delivers lower welfare. Thus, we argue that the traditional Taylor rule is appropriate for managing interest rates in the presence of premia.