G2 - Financial Institutions and Services

• The Ecology of Automated Market Makers

  Staff discussion paper 2024-12 Annetta Ho, Cosmin Cazan, Andrew Schrumm

  This paper describes the ecology of automated market makers, which are the most popular decentralized exchange model for the pricing and trading of crypto assets within decentralized finance.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): G, G1, G2 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Financial system regulation and oversight, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech

• How big is cash-futures basis trading in Canada’s government bond market?

  Staff analytical note 2024-16 Andreas Uthemann, Rishi Vala

  Cash-futures basis trading has grown alongside the Government of Canada bond futures market. We examine this growth over time in relation to Government of Canada bond and repurchase agreement markets and provide details on the type of market participants that engage in this type of trading activity.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D4, D47, D5, D53, G, G1, G12, G2, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Market structure, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk

• Non-bank financial intermediation: Canada’s submission to the 2023 global monitoring report

  Staff analytical note 2024-15 Malcolm Fisher, Alan Walsh

  We share insights from Canadian data from 2002 to 2022 that the Bank of Canada collected. The Bank submits these data each year to the Financial Stability Board for inclusion in its Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, G22, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk

• Central Bank Liquidity Policy in Modern Times

  Staff discussion paper 2024-6 Skylar Brooks

  Across several dimensions of lender of last resort policy, I highlight broad changes that have occurred since the 2008–09 global financial crisis and discuss some of the key challenges, choices and considerations facing the designers of central bank liquidity tools today.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D5, D53, E, E5, E58, E6, E61, G, G0, G01, G2, G21, G23, H, H1, H12 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation

• Assessing the Impact of the Bank of Canada’s Government Bond Purchases

  Staff discussion paper 2024-5 Chinara Azizova, Jonathan Witmer, Xu Zhang

  In March 2020, the Bank of Canada implemented the Government of Canada Bond Purchase Program, eventually purchasing approximately $340 billion of government bonds. In this paper, we analyze the impact of this program on financial market prices and yields as well as on GDP and inflation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, G, G2, G21, G28 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Real economy and forecasting

• Decomposing Systemic Risk: The Roles of Contagion and Common Exposures

  Staff working paper 2024-19 Grzegorz Halaj, Ruben Hipp

  We examine systemic risks within the Canadian banking sector, decomposing them into three contribution channels: contagion, common exposures, and idiosyncratic risk. Through a structural model, we dissect how interbank relationships and market conditions contribute to systemic risk, providing new insights for financial stability.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, C5, C51, G, G2, G21, L, L1, L14 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Economic models

• Fire Sales and Liquidity Requirements

  Staff working paper 2024-18 Yuteng Cheng, Roberto Robatto

  We study liquidity requirements in a framework with fire sales. The framework nests three common pricing mechanisms and produces the same observables. Absent risk-sharing considerations, the equilibrium is efficient with cash-in-the-market pricing; a liquidity requirement is optimal with second-best-use pricing; and a liquidity ceiling (i.e., a cap on liquid assets) is optimal with adverse selection.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G2, G23, G28 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Financial system regulation and oversight, Household and business credit

• Liquidity risks at Canadian life insurance companies

  Staff analytical note 2024-7 Patrick Aldridge, Stephane Gignac, Rishi Vala, Adrian Walton

  We examine how life insurers manage liquidity risks created by their business model. We find that Canadian life insurers did not face significant liquidity draws and continued their usual investment behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis and as interest rates increased in 2022.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D4, D47, D5, D53, G, G1, G12, G14, G2, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk

• Unintended Consequences of the Home Affordable Refinance Program

  Staff working paper 2024-11 Phoebe Tian, Chen Zheng

  We investigate the unintended consequences of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). Originally designed to help borrowers refinance after the 2008–09 global financial crisis, HARP inadvertently strengthened the market power of incumbent lenders by creating a cost advantage for them. Despite a 2013 policy rectifying this cost advantage, we still find significant welfare losses for borrowers.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, G5, G51, L, L5, L51 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit

• CBDC: Banking and Anonymity

  Staff working paper 2024-9 Yuteng Cheng, Ryuichiro Izumi

  We examine the optimal amount of user anonymity in a central bank digital currency in the context of bank lending. Anonymity, defined as the lender’s inability to discern an entrepreneur’s actions that enable fund diversion, influences the choice of payment instrument due to its impact on a bank’s lending decisions.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E58, G, G2, G28 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Retail payments