Working Paper
The Informational Centrality of Banks
Abstract: The equity and debt prices of large nonbank firms contain information about the future state of the banking system. In this sense, banks are informationally central. The amount of this information varies over time and over equity and debt. During a financial crisis banks are, by definition of a crisis, at risk of failure. Debt prices became about 50 percent more informative than equity prices about the future state of the banking system during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. This was partly due to investors' fears that banks might not be able to refinance the firms' debt.
Keywords: Price informativeness; Asset pricing; Banking system; Financial crises;
JEL Classification: D82; E44; G14;
https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2024.006
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File(s): File format is application/pdf https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/files/2024006pap.pdf
Bibliographic Information
Provider: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)
Part of Series: Finance and Economics Discussion Series
Publication Date: 2024-02-02
Number: 2024-006