New Economics Papers
on Banking
Issue of 2008‒05‒31
three papers chosen by
Roberto J. Santillán–Salgado, EGADE-ITESM


  1. Liquidity Stress-Tester: A macro model for stress-testing banks' liquidity risk By Jan Willem van den End
  2. Credit Expansion, the Prisoner´s Dilemma, and Free Banking as Mechanism Design By van den Hauwe, Ludwig
  3. A Leading Indicator Model of Banking Distress ¡V Developing an Early Warning System for Hong Kong and Other EMEAP Economies By Jim Wong; Eric Wong; Phyllis Leung

  1. By: Jan Willem van den End
    Abstract: This paper presents a macro stress-testing model for market and funding liquidity risks of banks, which have been main drivers of the recent financial crisis. The model takes into account the first and second round (feedback) effects of shocks, induced by behavioural reactions of heterogeneous banks, and idiosyncratic reputation effects. The impact on liquidity risk is simulated by a Monte Carlo approach. This generates distributions of liquidity buffers for each scenario round, including the probability of a liquidity shortfall. An application to Dutch banks illustrates that the second round effects have more impact than the first round effects and hit all types of banks, indicative of systemic risk. This lends support policy initiatives to enhance banks' liquidity buffers and liquidity risk management, which could also contribute to prevent financial stability risks.
    Keywords: banking; financial stability; stress-tests; liquidity risk
    JEL: C15 E44 G21 G32
    Date: 2008–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:175&r=ban
  2. By: van den Hauwe, Ludwig
    Abstract: Despite the distinctive character of the Austrian approach to “microfoundations for macroeconomics”, the literature on free banking contains a number of arguments which make use of game-theoretic concepts and models such as the well-known Prisoner´s Dilemma model. While there can be no general a priori presumption against the possible usefulness of game-theoretic concepts for Austrian theorizing, in the context of the debate on free banking such concepts and models have been used with varying degrees of perspicacity. One example which is elaborated in the paper is concerned with the interaction configuration between independent banks in a fractional-reserve free banking system, which has sometimes been modeled as a One-Shot Prisoner´s Dilemma. This conceptualization does not provide a sufficient argument for the in-concert overexpansion thesis, nor for the thesis that fractional-reserve free banking will tend to lead to the establishment of a central bank. The author drops the implicit assumption that there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the outcome matrix and the utility matrix. When it is acknowledged that banks in a fractional-reserve free banking system need not necessarily adopt a “myopic”, self-regarding perspective but may recognize the long-run harmony of interests between the banking sector and society at large, a different conceptualization and a different matrix representation emerge.
    Keywords: Free Banking; Business Cycle Theory; Prisoner´s Dilemma; Mechanism Design;
    JEL: E32 E66 E58 E42 E31 G18 E52 D01 K39
    Date: 2008–02–21
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8832&r=ban
  3. By: Jim Wong (Research Department, Hong Kong Monetary Authority); Eric Wong (Research Department, Hong Kong Monetary Authority); Phyllis Leung (Research Department, Hong Kong Monetary Authority)
    Abstract: This study develops a probit econometric model to identify a set of leading indicators of banking distress and estimate banking distress probability for Hong Kong and other EMEAP economies. Macroeconomic fundamentals, currency crisis vulnerability, credit risk of banks and companies, asset price bubbles, credit growth, and the occurrence of distress of other economies in the region are found to be important leading indicators of banking distress in the home economy. The predictive power of the model is reasonably good. A case study of Hong Kong based on the latest estimate of banking distress probability and stress testing results shows that currently the banking sector in Hong Kong is healthy and should be able to withstand well certain possible adverse shocks. Under some extreme shocks originating from real GDP growth and property prices such as those that occurred during the Asian financial crisis, the model indicates a non-negligible risk of an occurrence of banking distress in Hong Kong. However, the chances of the occurrence of such severe events are extremely low. Simulation results also suggest that compared to the period before the Asian financial crisis, the local banking sector is currently more capable of withstanding shocks similar to those that occurred during that crisis. The study also finds that banking distress is contagious, suggesting that to be effective in monitoring banking distress, close cooperation between central banks should be in place.
    Keywords: Banking distress, Asia Pacific economies, econometric model
    JEL: E44 E47 G21
    Date: 2007–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hkg:wpaper:0722&r=ban

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