Financial system regulation and policies

• Stress Relief? Funding Structures and Resilience to the Covid Shock

  Staff Working Paper 2023-7 Kristin Forbes, Christian Friedrich, Dennis Reinhardt

  Funding structures affected the amount of financial stress different countries and sectors experienced during the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020. Policy responses targeting specific vulnerabilities were more effective at mitigating this stress than those supporting banks or the economy more broadly.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Exchange rates, Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, E6, E65, F, F3, F31, F36, F4, F42, G, G1, G18, G2, G23, G3, G38

• Mandatory Retention Rules and Bank Risk

  Staff Working Paper 2023-3 Yuteng Cheng

  This paper studies, theoretically and empirically, the unintended consequences of mandatory retention rules in securitization. It proposes a novel model showing that while retention strengthens monitoring, it may also encourage banks to shift risk.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit risk management, Financial institutions, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, G28

• Improving the Efficiency of Payments Systems Using Quantum Computing

  Staff Working Paper 2022-53 Christopher McMahon, Donald McGillivray, Ajit Desai, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Jean-Paul Lam, Thomas Lo, Danica Marsden, Vladimir Skavysh

  We develop an algorithm and run it on a hybrid quantum annealing solver to find an ordering of payments that reduces the amount of system liquidity necessary without substantially increasing payment delays.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial institutions, Financial services, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): C, C6, C61, C63, D, D8, D83, E, E4, E42, E5, E58

• Potential benefits and key risks of fiat-referenced cryptoassets

  Staff Analytical Note 2022-20 Hugh Ding, Natasha Khan, Bena Lands, Cameron MacDonald, Laura Zhao

  Cryptoassets that reference a national currency (commonly known as stablecoins) aim to peg their value to the reference currency and typically use a reserve of traditional financial assets to maintain the peg. The market value of these fiat-referenced cryptoassets has grown more than thirtyfold between early 2020 and mid-2022. We explore some of their potential benefits and key risks.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, G, G2, G28, L, O, O3

• Regulatory Requirements of Banks and Arbitrage in the Post-Crisis Federal Funds Market

  Staff Working Paper 2022-48 Rodney J. Garratt, Sofia Priazhkina

  This paper explains the nature of interest rates in the U.S. federal funds market after the 2007-09 financial crisis. We build a model of the over-the-counter lending market that incorporates new aspects of the financial system: abundance of liquidity, different regulatory standards for banks, and arbitrage opportunities created by limited access to the facility granting interest on excess reserves.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Wholesale funding JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E58, G, G2, G28

• Stablecoins and Their Risks to Financial Stability

  Staff Discussion Paper 2022-20 Cameron MacDonald, Laura Zhao

  What risks could stablecoins pose to the financial system? We argue that the stabilization mechanisms of stablecoins give rise to the risk of confidence runs, which can propagate to broader cryptoasset markets and the traditional financial sector. We also argue that stablecoins can contribute to financial stability risks by facilitating the buildup of leverage and liquidity mismatch in decentralized finance. Such risks cannot be addressed by ensuring the price stability of stablecoins alone. Finally, we explore the potential implications of stablecoins for the current system of bank-intermediated credit and for monetary policy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E44, E5, E58, G, G2, G23

• Considerations for the allocation of non-default losses by financial market infrastructures

  Staff Analytical Note 2022-16 Daniele Costanzo, Radoslav Raykov

  Non-default losses of financial market infrastructures (FMIs) have gained attention due to their potential impacts on FMIs and FMI participants, and the lack of a common approach to address them. A key question is, who should absorb these losses?

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): G, G2, G23, G28, G3, G32, G33

• Forecasting Banks’ Corporate Loan Losses Under Stress: A New Corporate Default Model

  Technical Report No. 122 Gabriel Bruneau, Thibaut Duprey, Ruben Hipp

  We present a new corporate default model, one of the building blocks of the Bank of Canada’s bank stress-testing infrastructure. The model is used to forecast corporate loan losses of the Canadian banking sector under stress.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C5, C52, C53, G, G1, G17, G2, G21, G28

• COVID-19 and Financial Stability: Practice Ahead of Theory

  Staff Discussion Paper 2022-18 Jing Yang, Hélène Desgagnés, Grzegorz Halaj, Yaz Terajima

  The COVID-19 pandemic uncovered policy challenges related to the economic measures that were taken to support the economy. Two years later, we attempt to identify the broader impact of these measures and research that needs to follow.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, E6, E61, G, G2, G21, H, H3, H8, H84

• Cyber Security and Ransomware in Financial Markets

  Staff Working Paper 2022-32 Toni Ahnert, Michael Brolley, David Cimon, Ryan Riordan

  We develop a principal-agent model of cyber-attacking with fee-paying clients who delegate security decisions to financial platforms. We derive testable implications about clients’ vulnerability to cyber attacks and about the fees charged.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial services, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D7, D78, D8, D81, G, G1, G18, G2, G21, G23