August 19, 2010 Should Monetary Policy Be Used to Counteract Financial Imbalances? Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2010 Jean Boivin, Césaire Meh, Timothy Lane The authors examine whether monetary policy should and could do more to lean against financial imbalances (such as those associated with asset-price bubbles or unsustainable credit expansion) as they are building up, or whether its role should be limited to cleaning up the economic consequences as the imbalances unwind. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial system regulation and policies, Monetary policy framework
Identifying Asymmetric Comovements of International Stock Market Returns Staff Working Paper 2010-21 Fuchun Li Based on a new approach for measuring the comovements between stock market returns, we provide a nonparametric test for asymmetric comovements in the sense that stock market downturns will lead to stronger comovements than market upturns. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C4, C49, F, F2, F21, G, G1, G15, G19
Regulatory Constraints on Bank Leverage: Issues and Lessons from the Canadian Experience Staff Discussion Paper 2009-15 Étienne Bordeleau, Allan Crawford, Christopher Graham The Basel capital framework plays an important role in risk management by linking a bank's minimum capital requirements to the riskiness of its assets. Nevertheless, the risk estimates underlying these calculations may be imperfect, and it appears that a cyclical bias in measures of risk-adjusted capital contributed to procyclical increases in global leverage prior to the recent financial crisis. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): G, G0, G01, G2, G21, G28
November 11, 2009 The Evolution of Capital Flows to Emerging-Market Economies Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2009-2010 Lena Suchanek, Garima Vasishtha Many emerging-market economies (EMEs) have significantly improved their macroeconomic fundamentals and undergone structural reforms since the Asian crisis. These developments have enhanced the composition of capital flows to EMEs through an improved debt structure, a larger share of capital flows as foreign direct investment, and greater access to international debt markets for corporations in EMEs. Structural changes in the global financial landscape have also increased capital flows, bringing economic and financial benefits to EMEs. During the recent financial crisis, however, the opening up of capital accounts and increased financial and trade linkages left many countries vulnerable to external disruptions. Countries with sound fundamentals have weathered the crisis relatively well. Policy-makers in EMEs need to implement policies that support capital flows and ensure that controls imposed to deal with detrimental outflows during periods of stress or rapid inflows are only temporary. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Development economics, Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies
June 11, 2009 The Complexities of Financial Risk Management and Systemic Risks Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2009 Frank Milne Risk-management systems in financial institutions have come under increasing scrutiny in light of the current financial crisis, resulting in calls for improvements and an increased role for regulators. Yet such objectives miss the intricacy at the heart of the risk-management process. This article outlines the complexity inherent in any modern risk-management system, which arises because there are shortcuts in the theoretical models that risk managers need to be aware of, as well as the difficulties in sensible calibration of model parameters. The author suggests that prudential regulation of such systems should focus on failures within the financial firm and in the market interactions between firms and reviews possible strategies that can improve the performance of risk management and microprudential regulatory practice. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies
The Role of Bank Capital in the Propagation of Shocks Staff Working Paper 2008-36 Césaire Meh, Kevin Moran Recent events in financial markets have underlined the importance of analyzing the link between the financial health of banks and real economic activity. This paper contributes to this analysis by constructing a dynamic general equilibrium model in which the balance sheet of banks affects the propagation of shocks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial system regulation and policies, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, E5, E52, G, G2, G21
March 16, 2008 Developing a Framework to Assess Financial Stability: Conference Highlights and Lessons Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2008 Olivier de Bandt, Céline Gauthier, Pierre St-Amant Central banks are still defining their approach to financial stability and are at an early stage in the development of useful models. The Bank of Canada's 2007 economic conference was organized to stimulate progress in the development of financial-stability frameworks. Among the highlights reported here are the discussions centred around three proposed frameworks: a contingent-claims-analysis framework, a semi-structural framework, and structural financial-stability models. Participants also reported on their experiences with stress-testing under the International Monetary Fund's Financial Sector Assessment Program and discussed the implications for financial stability of linkages among payment, clearing, and settlement systems. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems
Unsecured Debt, Consumer Bankruptcy, and Small Business Staff Working Paper 2008-5 Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima In this paper we develop a quantitative model of entrepreneurial activity (risk-taking) and consumer bankruptcy choices and use the model to study the effects of bankruptcy regulations on entrepreneurial activity, bankruptcy rate and welfare. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, E, E2, E21, J, J2, J23
October 12, 2007 Bank of Canada Workshop on Derivatives Markets in Canada and Beyond Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2007 Toni Gravelle At this 2006 workshop hosted by the Bank of Canada, an international group of market participants, regulators, and policy-makers gathered to assess recent developments in the derivatives market. Among the topics discussed were the recent prodigious growth in risk-transfer instruments, including credit derivatives and inflation-linked derivatives, as well as the accompanying challenges and benefits. Overall, the development of derivatives markets was seen as providing broad economic benefits, including more complete financial markets, improved market liquidity, and increased capacity of the financial system to effectively price and bear risk. Yet concern was also voiced that market participants do not fully understand the risks that arise in trading credit derivatives. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies
Hedge Funds and Financial Stability: The State of the Debate Staff Discussion Paper 2007-9 Michael R. King, Philipp Maier The authors review the state of the debate on hedge funds and the potential threat that hedge funds pose to financial stability. The collapse of a hedge fund or a group of hedge funds might pose a systemic risk directly by damaging systematically important financial institutions, or indirectly by increasing market volatility and generating a […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): G, G1, G15, G18, G2