Did TARP Distort Competition Among Sound Unsupported Banks?
Michael Koetter, Felix Noth
Economic Inquiry,
Nr. 2,
2016
Abstract
This study investigates if the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) distorted price competition in U.S. banking. Political indicators reveal bailout expectations after 2009, manifested as beliefs about the predicted probability of receiving equity support relative to failing during the TARP disbursement period. In addition, the TARP affected the competitive conduct of unsupported banks after the program stopped in the fourth quarter of 2009. Loan rates were higher, and the risk premium required by depositors was lower for banks with higher bailout expectations. The interest margins of unsupported banks increased in the immediate aftermath of the TARP disbursement but not after 2010. No effects emerged for loan or deposit growth, which suggests that protected banks did not increase their market shares at the expense of less protected banks.
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Shareholder Bargaining Power and the Emergence of Empty Creditors
Stefano Colonnello, M. Efing, Francesca Zucchi
Abstract
Credit default swaps (CDSs) can create empty creditors who potentially force borrowers into inefficient bankruptcy but also reduce shareholders‘ incentives to default strategically. We show theoretically and empirically that the presence and the effects of empty creditors on firm outcomes depend on the distribution of bargaining power among claimholders. Firms are more likely to have empty creditors if these would face powerful shareholders in debt renegotiation. The empirical evidence confirms that more CDS insurance is written on firms with strong shareholders and that CDSs increase the bankruptcy risk of these same firms. The ensuing effect on firm value is negative.
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Structural Reforms in Banking: The Role of Trading
Jan Pieter Krahnen, Felix Noth, Ulrich Schüwer
Abstract
In the wake of the recent financial crisis, significant regulatory actions have been taken aimed at limiting risks emanating from trading in bank business models. Prominent reform proposals are the Volcker Rule in the U.S., the Vickers Report in the UK, and, based on the Liikanen proposal, the Barnier proposal in the EU. A major element of these reforms is to separate “classical” commercial banking activities from securities trading activities, notably from proprietary trading. While the reforms are at different stages of implementation, there is a strong ongoing discussion on what possible economic consequences are to be expected. The goal of this paper is to look at the alternative approaches of these reform proposals and to assess their likely consequences for bank business models, risk-taking and financial stability. Our conclusions can be summarized as follows: First, the focus on a prohibition of only proprietary trading, as envisaged in the current EU proposal, is inadequate. It does not necessarily reduce risk-taking and it likely crowds out desired trading activities, thereby negatively affecting financial stability. Second, there is potentially a better solution to limit excessive trading risk at banks in terms of potential welfare consequences: Trading separation into legally distinct or ring-fenced entities within the existing banking organizations. This kind of separation limits cross-subsidies between banking and proprietary trading and diminishes contagion risk, while still allowing for synergies across banking, non-proprietary trading and proprietary trading.
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16.03.2016 • 10/2016
Konjunktur aktuell: Stabile Konjunktur in Deutschland trotz krisenhaften Umfelds
Die deutsche Konjunktur ist trotz internationaler Risiken und politischer Verwerfungen kraftvoll in das Jahr 2016 gestartet. Beschäftigung und Einkommen nehmen zu, und die Binnennachfrage steigt deutlich, auch weil der Staat zusätzliche Ausgaben im Zusammenhang mit der Flüchtlingsmigration tätigt. Allerdings dürfte es nach Einschätzung des IWH im Frühjahr zu einer vorübergehenden Verlangsamung der Dynamik kommen, darauf deuten Stimmungsindikatoren hin. Mit Fortschritten bei der Bewältigung der aktuellen politischen Probleme in Europa dürfte die Zuversicht wieder zunehmen und die deutsche Konjunktur insgesamt stabil bleiben, sodass das Bruttoinlandsprodukt im Jahr 2016 wohl mit einer Rate von 1,5% expandieren wird.
Oliver Holtemöller
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The Impact of Credit Default Swap Trading on Loan Syndication
Daniel Streitz
Review of Finance,
Nr. 1,
2016
Abstract
We analyze the impact of credit default swap (CDS) trading on bank syndication activity. Theoretically, the effect of CDS trading is ambiguous: on the one hand, CDS can improve risk-sharing and hence be a more flexible risk management tool than loan syndication; on the other hand, CDS trading can reduce bank monitoring incentives. We document that banks are less likely to syndicate loans and retain a larger loan fraction once CDS are actively traded on the borrower’s debt. We then discern the risk management and the moral hazard channel. We find no evidence that the reduced likelihood to syndicate loans is a result of increased moral hazard problems.
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Agrarrohstoffpreise und Lebensmittelpreise in armen Ländern
Oliver Holtemöller
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 1,
2016
Abstract
In der Politik und in den Medien wird darüber diskutiert, ob spekulativer Handel mit Agrarrohstoffen den Hunger in der Welt vermehrt. In diesem Aufsatz wird untersucht, in welchem Umfang sich Schwankungen von Agrarrohstoffpreisen auf nationale Verbraucherpreise für Lebensmittel in Indien als einem großen Land mit einem großen Anteil an armen Menschen übertragen. Es wird gezeigt, dass Agrarrohstoffpreisschwankungen mit einem Quartal Verzögerung signifikante Effekte auf die Verbraucherpreisinflation für Lebensmittel und die Verbraucherpreisinflation insgesamt in Indien haben. Quantitativ bedeutend waren diese Effekte etwa 2007/2008 und 2010/2011. Aufgrund der restriktiven Reaktion der indischen Zentralbank auf einen Anstieg der Verbraucherpreisinflation kommt es zusätzlich zu negativen Auswirkungen auf die Konjunktur. Allerdings sind andere Faktoren für die Schwankungen der Lebensmittelpreise in Indien wesentlich bedeutender.
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To Separate or not to Separate Investment from Commercial Banking? An Empirical Analysis of Attention Distortion under Multiple Tasks
Reint E. Gropp, K. Park
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 2,
2016
Abstract
In the wake of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, a number of policy reports (Vickers, Liikanen, Volcker) proposed to separate investment banking from commercial banking to increase financial stability. This paper empirically examines one theoretical justification for these proposals, namely attention distortion under multiple tasks as in Holmstrom and Milgrom (1991). Universal banks can be viewed as combining two different tasks (investment banking and commercial banking) in the same organization. We estimate pay-performance sensitivities for different segments within universal banks and for pure investment and commercial banks. We show that the pay-performance sensitivity is higher in investment banking than in commercial banking, no matter whether it is organized as part of a universal bank or in a separate institution. Next, the paper shows that relative pay-performance sensitivities of investment and commercial banking are negatively related to the quality of the loan portfolio in universal banks. Depending on the specification, we obtain a reduction in problem loans when investment banking is removed from commercial banks of up to 12 percent. We interpret the evidence to imply that the higher pay-performance sensitivity in investment banking directs the attention of managers away from commercial banking within universal banks, consistent with Holmstrom and Milgrom (1991). Separation of investment banking and commercial banking may indeed be associated with a reduction in risk in commercial banking.
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Do Federal Reserve Bank Presidents’ Interest Rate Votes in the FOMC Follow an Electoral Cycle?
Stefan Eichler, Tom Lähner
Applied Economics Letters,
Nr. 9,
2016
Abstract
We find that Federal Reserve Bank presidents’ regional bias in their dissenting interest rate votes in the Federal Open Market Committee follows an electoral cycle. Presidents put more weight on their district’s economic environment during the year prior to their (re-)election relative to nonelection years.
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The Effect of Personal Bankruptcy Exemptions on Investment in Home Equity
S. Corradin, Reint E. Gropp, H. Huizinga, Luc Laeven
Journal of Financial Intermediation,
January
2016
Abstract
Homestead exemptions to personal bankruptcy allow households to retain their home equity up to a limit determined at the state level. Households that may experience bankruptcy thus have an incentive to bias their portfolios towards home equity. Using US household data for the period 1996 to 2006, we find that household demand for real estate is relatively high if the marginal investment in home equity is covered by the exemption. The home equity bias is more pronounced for younger and less healthy households that face more financial uncertainty and therefore have a higher ex ante probability of bankruptcy. These results suggest that homestead exemptions have an important bearing on the portfolio allocation of US households and the extent to which they insure against bad shocks.
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Foreign Direct Investment: The Role of Institutional and Cultural Determinants
Stefan Eichler, N. Lucke
Applied Economics,
Nr. 11,
2016
Abstract
Using panel data for 29 source and 65 host countries in the period 1995–2009, we examine the determinants of bilateral FDI stocks, focusing on institutional and cultural factors. The results reveal that institutional and cultural distance is important and that FDI has a predominantly regional aspect. FDI to developing countries is positively affected by better institutions in the host country, while foreign investors prefer to invest in developed countries that are more corrupt and politically unstable compared to home. The results indicate that foreign investors prefer to invest in countries with less diverse societies than their own.
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