Search Results
Journal Article
The Rise in Loan-to-Deposit Ratios: Is 80 the New 60?
Liquidity ratios at small banks have climbed in recent decades. Why has this happened? Should regulators be concerned? A traditional signal that a bank may not have enough liquid assets to cover a sudden loss of funding has increased dramatically at small banks in recent decades. Small banks? median ratio of the value of their loans outstanding to the value of their deposits has risen from around 60 percent in the second half of the 1980s to around 80 percent today. Meanwhile, the same measure of liquidity has increased about 5 percentage points at large banks. How can we explain this big ...
Journal Article
Pandemic-Era Liquid Wealth Is Running Dry
Households accumulated more liquid assets beginning in 2020 than would have been expected without the pandemic. These “extra” liquid assets have dissipated, but their evolution has differed significantly by income group. While middle- and lower-income households hold substantially less liquid wealth than implied by pre-pandemic projections, the level for higher-income households remains close to its pre-pandemic path. Over the same period, credit card delinquency rates initially dropped and, more recently, have steadily risen as pandemic-era liquid wealth was depleted, especially for ...
The Comovement between Credit Spreads, Corporate Debt and Liquid Assets in Recent Crises
Credit spreads rose sharply during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 crisis. But their movement with corporate debt and liquid assets differed during those two periods.
Working Paper
Credit Card Debt Puzzle: Liquid Assets to Pay Bills
Using transaction data from a US consumer payments diary, we revisit the credit card debt puzzle—a scenario in which consumers revolve credit card debt while also keeping liquid assets as bank account deposits. This scenario is very common: 42 percent of consumers in our sample were borrower-savers in 2019 (those who carry $100 or more in credit card debt and $100 or more in liquid assets). We explain the puzzle by showing that consumers need their liquid assets to pay monthly bills and other necessary expenses, including mortgage or rent. More than 80 percent of bills by value were paid ...
Journal Article
The Rise in Loan-to-Deposit Ratios: Is 80 the New 60?
Liquidity ratios at small banks have climbed in recent decades. Why has this happened? Should regulators be concerned? A traditional signal that a bank may not have enough liquid assets to cover a sudden loss of funding has increased dramatically at small banks in recent decades. Small banks? median ratio of the value of their loans outstanding to the value of their deposits has risen from around 60 percent in the second half of the 1980s to around 80 percent today. Meanwhile, the same measure of liquidity has increased about 5 percentage points at large banks. How can we explain this big ...
Working Paper
Credit Card Debt Puzzle: Liquid Assets to Pay Bills
Using transaction data from a US consumer payments diary, we revisit the credit card debt puzzle—a scenario in which consumers revolve credit card debt while also keeping liquid assets as bank account deposits. This scenario is very common: 42 percent of consumers in our sample were borrower-savers in 2019 (those who carry $100 or more in credit card debt and $100 or more in liquid assets). We explain the puzzle by showing that consumers need their liquid assets to pay monthly bills and other necessary expenses, including mortgage or rent. More than 80 percent of bills by value were paid ...