May 2023: The extraordinary generosity of central banks towards banks: Some reflections on its origin

By Paul De Grauwe, Yuemei Ji Since central banks started their fight against inflation, they have transferred massive amounts of their profits to banks. The authors of this column have suggested that minimum reserve requirements are a valid alternative, but they have met fierce resistance because they are seen as introducing distortions and departures from[…]

May 2023: Trade fragmentation matters for bank credit supply: New evidence from the International Banking Research Network

By Claudia Buch, Linda S. Goldberg, Björn Imbierowicz Recent geopolitical events have raised concerns that markets for goods and services could become more fragmented. Clearly, trade uncertainty has increased. The consequences for financial intermediation of fragmentation and uncertainty are not well understood though. If banks affected by adverse trade events contract lending, the effects of[…]

May 2023: Big banks must become globally resolvable – or significantly ‘smaller’

By Aymo Brunetti The subsidised emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS brings the current global ‘too big to fail’ regime into question. This column argues that an in-depth analysis of the global resolution framework by both regulators and academics is needed. The main question is whether a resolution of a global systemically important bank[…]

May 2023: Financial Stability Report

This report summarizes the Federal Reserve Board’s framework for assessing the resilience of the U.S. financial system and presents the Board’s current assessment. By publishing this report, the Board intends to promote public understanding and increase transparency and accountability for the Federal Reserve’s views on this topic. Link: Financial Stability Report

April 2023: Window dressing of Regulatory Metrics: Evidence from Repo Markets

Banks’ ability to temporarily contract their balance sheets around reporting dates to report more favourable regulatory metrics – a regulatory arbitrage practice commonly referred to as window dressing – poses a risk to financial stability. In this paper, we investigate both the magnitude and the drivers of bank window dressing behaviour in euro-denominated repo markets.[…]

April 2023: ECB and SRB welcome European Commission’s legislative proposals for bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework

The European Central Bank (ECB) and the Single Resolution Board (SRB) welcome the European Commission’s proposed legislative changes to the European bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework. Link: ECB and SRB welcome European Commission’s legislative proposals for bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework

April 2023: Macroprudential policies are effective, with limited side effects – but open questions remain

By Gaston Gelos, Maria Soledad Martinez Peria, Erlend Nier, Fabian Valencia While many emerging economies have been using macroprudential policy tools for some time, their use to safeguard financial stability was only embraced more widely in response to the global financial crisis. This column takes stock of what we have learned about macroprudential policy, and[…]