Report
The topology of the federal funds market
Bech, Morten L.; Atalay, Enghin (2008)
The recent turmoil in global financial markets underscores the importance of the federal funds market as a means of distributing liquidity throughout the financial system and a tool for implementing monetary policy. In this paper, we explore the network topology of the federal funds market. We find that the network is sparse, exhibits the small-world phenomenon, and is disassortative. In addition, reciprocity loans track the federal funds rate, and centrality measures are useful predictors of the interest rate of a loan.
Staff Reports , Paper 354

Report
Illiquidity in the interbank payment system following wide-scale disruptions
Garratt, Rod; Bech, Morten L. (2006)
We show how the interbank payment system can become illiquid following wide-scale disruptions. Two forces are at play in such disruptions-operational problems and changes in participants' behavior. We model the interbank payment system as an n-player game and utilize the concept of a potential function to describe the process by which one of multiple equilibria emerges after a wide-scale disruption. If the disruption is large enough, hits a key geographic area, or hits a "too-big-to-fail" participant, then the coordination of payment processing can break down, and central bank intervention ...
Staff Reports , Paper 239

Report
The mechanics of a graceful exit: interest on reserves and segmentation in the federal funds market
Bech, Morten L.; Klee, Elizabeth C. (2009-12-01)
To combat the financial crisis that intensified in the fall of 2008, the Federal Reserve injected a substantial amount of liquidity into the banking system. The resulting increase in reserve balances exerted downward price pressure in the federal funds market, and the effective federal funds rate began to deviate from the target rate set by the Federal Open Market Committee. In response, the Federal Reserve revised its operational framework for implementing monetary policy and began to pay interest on reserve balances in an attempt to provide a floor for the federal funds rate. Nevertheless, ...
Staff Reports , Paper 416

Report
Mapping change in the federal funds market
Garratt, Rod; Bergstrom, Carl T.; Bech, Morten L.; Rosvall, Martin (2011)
We use an information-theoretic approach to describe changes in lending relationships between federal funds market participants around the time of the Lehman Brothers failure. Unlike previous work that conducts maximum-likelihood estimation on undirected networks, our analysis distinguishes between borrowers and lenders and looks for broader lending relationships (multibank lending cycles) that extend beyond the immediate counterparties. We find that significant changes in lending patterns emerge following implementation of the Interest on Reserves policy by the Federal Reserve on October 9, ...
Staff Reports , Paper 507

Report
Which bank is the \\"central\\" bank? an application of Markov theory to the Canadian Large Value Transfer System
Garratt, Rod; Chapman, James T. E.; Bech, Morten L. (2008-11-01)
Recently, economists have argued that a bank's importance within the financial system depends not only on its individual characteristics but also on its position within the banking network. A bank is deemed to be "central" if, based on our network analysis, it is predicted to hold the most liquidity. In this paper, we use a method similar to Google's PageRank procedure to rank banks in the Canadian Large Value Transfer System (LVTS). In doing so, we obtain estimates of the payment processing speeds for the individual banks. These differences in processing speeds are essential for ...
Staff Reports , Paper 356

Report
The Federal Home Loan Bank System: the lender of next-to-last resort?
Ashcraft, Adam B.; Bech, Morten L.; Frame, W. Scott (2008)
The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) System is a large, complex, and understudied government-sponsored liquidity facility that currently has more than $1 trillion in secured loans outstanding, mostly to commercial banks and thrifts. In this paper, we document the significant role played by the FHLB System at the onset of the ongoing financial crises and then provide evidence on the uses of these funds by the System's bank and thrift members. Next, we identify the trade-offs faced by member-borrowers when choosing between accessing the FHLB System or the Federal Reserve's Discount Window during ...
Staff Reports , Paper 357

Working Paper
Arbitrage, liquidity and exit: the repo and federal funds markets before, during, and emerging from the financial crisis
Klee, Elizabeth C.; Bech, Morten L.; Stebunovs, Viktors (2012)
This paper examines the link between the federal funds and repo markets, before, during, and emerging from the financial crisis that began in August 2007. In particular, the paper investigates the initial transmission of monetary policy to closely related money markets, pricing of risk, and liquidity effects, and then shows how these could interact if the Federal Reserve removes the substantial amount of liquidity currently in the federal funds market. The results suggest that pass-through from the federal funds rate to the repo deteriorated somewhat during the zero lower bound period, likely ...
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 2012-21

Discussion Paper
How the High Level of Reserves Benefits the Payment System
Bech, Morten L.; McAndrews, James J.; Martin, Antoine (2012-02-27)
Since October 2008, the Federal Reserve has increased the size of its balance sheet by lending to financial intermediaries and purchasing assets on a large scale. While these actions have increased the amount of reserves in the U.S. banking system and therefore raised concerns about excessive bank lending and inflation, we can document an important and overlooked benefit of the high level of reserves: a significantly earlier settlement of payments on Fedwire, the Federal Reserve’s large-value payment system. Quicker settlement on Fedwire improves liquidity throughout the economy, reducing ...
Liberty Street Economics , Paper 20120227

Journal Article
Settlement liquidity and monetary policy implementation—lessons from the financial crisis
Bech, Morten L.; McAndrews, James J.; Martin, Antoine (2012-03)
The U.S. dollar clearing and settlement system received little attention during the recent financial crisis, mainly because it performed reliably, processing record volumes and values of trades made in stressed financial markets. This article shows how Federal Reserve policy measures aimed at providing liquidity and stability to the financial system during and after the crisis had a major impact on settlement liquidity and thus on the efficiency of clearing and settlement system activity. The measures led to a substantial decrease in daylight overdrafts extended by the Federal Reserve and a ...
Economic Policy Review , Volume 18 , Issue Mar , Pages 3-20

Working Paper
The mechanics of a graceful exit: interest on reserves and segmentation in the federal funds market
Bech, Morten L.; Klee, Elizabeth C. (2010)
To combat the financial crisis that intensified in the fall of 2008, the Federal Reserve injected a substantial amount of liquidity into the banking system. The resulting increase in reserve balances exerted downward price pressure in the federal funds market, and the effective federal funds rate began to deviate from the target rate set by the Federal Open Market Committee. In response, the Federal Reserve revised its operational framework for implementing monetary policy and began to pay interest on reserve balances in an attempt to provide a floor for the federal funds rate. Nevertheless, ...
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 2010-07