Search Results
Working Paper
Bank deposit rate clustering: theory and empirical evidence
An examination of banks' optimal deposit-rate-setting behavior when some customers have limited recall, showing that when banks exploit this phenomenon, deposit rates will tend to be set at round fractions and will be relatively "sticky" at these levels.
Working Paper
A structural model of contingent bank capital
This paper develops a structural credit risk model of a bank that issues deposits, shareholders' equity, and fixed or floating coupon bonds in the form of contingent capital or subordinated debt. The return on the bank's assets follows a jump-diffusion process, and default-free interest rates are stochastic. The equilibrium pricing of the bank's deposits, contingent capital, and shareholders' equity is studied for various parameter values haracterizing the bank's risk and the contractual terms of its contingent capital. Allowing for the possibility of jumps in the bank's asset value, as might ...
Report
Why do banks target ROE?
Historically, nonfinancial corporations relied on performance targets linked to their EPS. Up until the 1970s, banks also appeared to follow a similar practice, but since then they have favored ROE. Equity investors seem to be aware of these differences because EPS growth is better at explaining nonfinancials? stock market value while ROE is better at explaining banks? market values. In this paper we present a model of a bank with fixed-rate deposit insurance that faces increasing competition that erodes its charter value. When under these conditions the bank chooses its capital to maximize ...
Conference Paper
The opening of new markets for bank assets
Working Paper
Estimating the cost of U.S. indexed bonds
A presentation of an equilibrium bond-pricing model driven by two stochastic factors: the real interest rate and the expected rate of inflation. The models parameters are estimated using a maximum-likelihood technique based on a Kalman filter.
Conference Paper
Harming depositors and helping borrowers: the disparate impact of bank consolidation
There is growing evidence showing that large and small banks differ in how they service retail customers. Large, multi-market banks (LMBs) have more standardized operations and set interest rates that are uniform across local markets, while small banks have greater autonomy to set rates according to local market conditions. LMBs also differ from smaller banks by having relatively greater access to wholesale funding. This paper presents a model of spatial competition where small, single-market banks compete with LMBs. It shows that market-extension mergers by LMBs promote competition in ...
Conference Paper
Market discipline, information disclosure, and uninsured deposits
Discussion Paper
Why Do Banks Target ROE?
Nonfinancial corporations focus on the growth in earnings per share (EPS) to benchmark their performance. Banks used to follow a similar practice, but starting in the late 1970s they began to emphasize return on equity (ROE) instead. In this blog post, we outline findings from our recent staff report, which argues that banks had an incentive to make this change when their charter values eroded owing to increased competition, and the incentive to change was magnified by risk-insensitive deposit insurance.