G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance

• Do Liquidity Proxies Measure Liquidity in Canadian Bond Markets?

  Staff Analytical Note 2017-23 Jean-Sébastien Fontaine, Jeffrey Gao, Jabir Sandhu, Kobe Wu

  This analytical note evaluates the reliability of proxies for measuring liquidity in Canadian bond markets. We find that price-impact and bid-ask proxies paint a similar picture of evolving liquidity conditions to that obtained from richer measures of liquidity for benchmark Government of Canada bonds.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Debt Management, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G14, G2, G23, G3, G32

• Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Sovereigns

  Staff Discussion Paper 2017-7 Philippe Muller, Jérôme Bourque

  The investment of foreign exchange reserves or other asset portfolios requires an assessment of the credit quality of investment counterparties. Traditionally, foreign exchange reserve and asset managers have relied on credit rating agencies (CRAs) as the main source for credit assessments.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Credit risk management, Foreign reserves management JEL Code(s): F, F3, F31, G, G2, G24, G28, G3, G32

• Multilateral Development Bank Credit Rating Methodology: Overcoming the Challenges in Assessing Relative Credit Risk in Highly Rated Institutions Based on Public Data

  Staff Discussion Paper 2017-6 David Xiao Chen, Philippe Muller, Hawa Wagué

  The investment of foreign exchange reserves or other asset portfolios requires an assessment of the credit quality of counterparties. Traditionally, foreign exchange reserve managers and other investors have relied on credit rating agencies (CRAs) as the main source for credit assessments.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Credit risk management, Foreign reserves management JEL Code(s): F, F3, F31, G, G2, G24, G28, G3, G32
• May 11, 2017

  Why Is Global Business Investment So Weak? Some Insights from Advanced Economies

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2017 Robert Fay, Justin-Damien Guénette, Martin Leduc, Louis Morel

  Various drivers of business investment can be used to explain the underwhelming performance of investment in advanced economies since the global financial crisis, particularly since 2014. The slow growth in aggregate demand cannot by itself explain the full extent of the recent weakness in investment, which appears to be linked primarily to the collapse of global commodity prices and a rise in economic uncertainty. Looking ahead, business investment growth is likely to remain slower than in the pre-crisis period, largely because of structural factors such as population aging.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review Article Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Domestic demand and components, Economic models, International topics, Recent economic and financial developments, Uncertainty and monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, D, D2, D24, D8, D80, E, E2, E22, F, F0, F01, G, G3, G31

• Equity Option-Implied Probability of Default and Equity Recovery Rate

  Staff Working Paper 2016-58 Bo Young Chang, Greg Orosi

  There is a close link between prices of equity options and the default probability of a firm. We show that in the presence of positive expected equity recovery, standard methods that assume zero equity recovery at default misestimate the option-implied default probability.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Asset Pricing, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G13, G3, G33

• Financial Constraint and Productivity: Evidence from Canadian SMEs

  Staff Working Paper 2016-44 Shutao Cao, Danny Leung

  The degree to which financial constraint is binding is often not directly observable in commonly used business data sets (e.g., Compustat). In this paper, we measure and estimate the likelihood of a firm being constrained by external financing using a data set of small- and medium-sized Canadian firms.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, G, G3, G32, L, L2, L25

• Timing of Banks’ Loan Loss Provisioning During the Crisis

  Staff Working Paper 2016-27 Leo de Haan, Maarten van Oordt

  We estimate a panel error correction model for loan loss provisions, using unique supervisory data on flow of funds into and out of the allowance for loan losses of 25 Dutch banks in the post-2008 crisis period. We find that these banks aim for an allowance of 49% of impaired loans.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Financial Institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): G, G0, G01, G2, G21, G3, G32

• A Framework in Search of an Optimal Margining Policy for Official Institutions: The Canadian Experience

  Staff Discussion Paper 2016-9 Tomo Nakashima, Mihai Cosma, Boran Plong

  One of the main outcomes of the global financial crisis has been a series of new regulations imposed on the financial system and specifically on banks.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Foreign reserves management JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32

• What Is Behind the Weakness in Global Investment?

  Staff Discussion Paper 2016-5 Maxime Leboeuf, Robert Fay

  The recovery in private business investment globally remains extremely weak more than seven years after the financial crisis. This paper contributes to the ongoing policy debate on the factors behind this weakness by analyzing the role of growth prospects and uncertainty in explaining developments in non-residential private business investment in large advanced economies since the crisis.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Central bank research, Domestic demand and components, Economic models, International topics, Recent economic and financial developments, Uncertainty and monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C2, C23, C3, C33, D, D2, D24, D8, D80, D84, E, E2, E22, F, F0, F01, G, G3, G31

• Shock Transmission Through International Banks: Canada

  Technical Report No. 105 James Chapman, H. Evren Damar

  In this paper, we investigate how liquidity conditions in Canada may affect domestic and/or foreign lending of globally active banks and whether this transmission is influenced by individual bank characteristics.

  Content Type(s): Technical Reports Topic(s): Financial Institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, F, F3, F36, G, G2, G21, G3, G32