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Working Paper
Arbitrage Capital of Global Banks
We show that the role of unsecured, short-term wholesale funding for global banks has changed significantly in the post-financial-crisis regulatory environment. Global banks mainly use such funding to finance liquid, near risk-free arbitrage positions---in particular, the interest on excess reserves arbitrage and the covered interest rate parity arbitrage. In this environment, we examine the response of global banks to a large negative wholesale funding shock as a result of the U.S. money market mutual fund reform implemented in 2016. In contrast to past episodes of wholesale funding dry-ups, ...
Working Paper
Securities Lending as Wholesale Funding : Evidence from the U.S. Life Insurance Industry
The existing literature implicitly or explicitly assumes that securities lenders primarily respond to demand from borrowers and reinvest their cash collateral through short-term markets. Using a new dataset that matches every U.S. life insurer?s bond portfolio, as well as their lending and reinvestment decisions, to the universe of securities lending transactions, we offer compelling evidence for an alternative strategy, in which securities lending programs are used to finance a portfolio of long-dated assets. We discuss how the liquidity and maturity mismatch associated with using securities ...
Journal Article
Case studies on disruptions during the crisis
The 2007-09 financial crisis saw many funding mechanisms challenged by a drastic reduction in market liquidity, a sharp increase in the cost of transactions, and, in some cases, a drying-up in financing. This article presents case studies of several key financial markets and intermediaries under significant distress at this time. For each case, the author discusses the size and evolution of the funding mechanism, the sources of the disruptions, and the policy responses aimed at mitigating distress and making markets more liquid. The review serves as a reference on the vulnerabilities of ...