Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T11:23:38.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The optimal distribution of insured and uninsured deposits across banks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2023

Lukas Voellmy*
Affiliation:
Swiss National Bank, Boersenstrasse 15, P.O. Box 8022, Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract

I study a model of self-fulfilling bank runs where government-provided deposit insurance covers small (retail) deposits but not large (wholesale) deposits. The share of the banking system that may be affected by runs depends on the distribution of retail and wholesale deposits across banks. The magnitude of runs is minimized if banks with both retail and wholesale depositors (reminiscent of commercial banks) coexist with banks that cater only to wholesale depositors (reminiscent of shadow banks). The shadow banking sector should be large enough to absorb enough wholesale deposits from commercial banks to keep them shielded from runs. In a decentralized equilibrium, the magnitude of runs tends to be larger than optimal as a result of wholesale depositors’ incentive to invest in the banks with the highest share of retail depositors.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this paper circulated under the title “Shadow Banking and Financial Stability under Limited Deposit Insurance”. I thank Ina Bialova (discussant), Corinne Dubois (discussant), Huberto Ennis, Leonardo Gambacorta (discussant), Todd Keister, Cyril Monnet, Ewelina Laskowksa, and two anonymous referees for particularly helpful comments on various versions of the paper. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Swiss National Bank.

References

Allen, F. and Gale, D. (1998) Optimal financial crises. Journal of Finance 53(4), 12451284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altermatt, L., van Buggenum, H. and Voellmy, L. (2022) Systemic bank runs without aggregate risk: how a misallocation of liquidity may trigger a solvency crisis, SNB Working Paper, 10/2022.Google Scholar
Andolfatto, , D., Nosal, E. and Sultanum, B. (2017) Preventing bank runs. Theoretical Economics, 12, 10031028.Google Scholar
Cavalcanti, R. and Monteira, P. K. (2016) Enriching information to prevent bank runs. Economic Theory 62(3), 477494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choi, D. B. (2014) Heterogeneity and stability: Bolster the strong, not the weak. The Review of Financial Studies 27(6), 18301867.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chretien, E. and Lyonnet, V. (2019) Are Traditional and Shadow Banks Symbiotic? Fisher College of Business Working Paper No, 2019-03-011.Google Scholar
Claessens, S., Poszar, Z., Ratnovski, L. and Singh, M. (2012) Shadow banking: Economics and policy. IMF Staff Discussion Note No. 12/12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, C. and Schaab, A. (2022) Regulation with Externalities and Misallocation in General Equilibrium, Working Paper.Google Scholar
Davila, E. and Goldstein, I. (forthcoming) Optimal deposit insurance. Journal of Political Economy.Google Scholar
Demirguc-Kunt, A., Kane, E. and Laeven, L. (2015) Deposit insurance around the world: A comprehensive analysis and database. Journal of Financial Stability 20, 155183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diamond, D. W. and Dybvig, P. H. (1983) Bank runs, deposit insurance and liquidity. Journal of Political Economy 91(3), 401419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreyfus, J.-F., Saunders, A. and Allen, L. (1994) Deposit insurance and regulatory forbearance: Are caps on insured deposits optimal? Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 26(3), 412438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engineer, M. (1989) Bank runs and the suspension of deposit convertibility. Journal of Monetary Economics 24(3), 443454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ennis, H. and Keister, T. (2009) Bank runs and institutions: The perils of intervention. American Economic Review 99(4), 15881607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farhi, E., Golosov, M. and Tsyvinski, A. (2009) A theory of liquidity and regulation of financial intermediation. Review of Economic Studies 76(3), 973992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farhi, E. and Tirole, J. (2021) Shadow banking and the four pillars of traditional financial intermediation. The Review of Economic Studies 88(6), 26222653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gennaioli, N., Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. W. (2013) A model of shadow banking. The Journal of Finance 68(4), 13311363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gertler, M., Kiyotaki, N. and Prestipino, A. (2016) Wholesale banking and bank runs in macroeconomic modelling of financial crises. In: Gertler, M., Kiyotaki, N. and Prestipino, A..(eds.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, vol. 2B, pp. 13451425. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Goldstein, I., Kopytov, A., Shen, L. and Xiang, H. (2022) Synchronicity and Fragility, Working Paper.Google Scholar
Grochulski, B. and Zhang, Y. (2019) Optimal liquidity policy with shadow banking. Economic Theory 68(4), 9671015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, S. G., Shleifer, A., Stein, J. C. and Vishny, R. W. (2015) Banks as patient fixed-income investors. Journal of Financial Economics 117(3), 449469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, J. (2018) Banking and shadow banking. Journal of Economic Theory 178, 124152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolotilin, A. and Wolitzky, A. (2020). The economics of partisan gerrymandering. Working paper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Z and Ma, K (2022) Contagious bank runs and committed liquidity support. Management Science 68(12), 85159218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X. (2016) Interbank market freezes and creditor runs. The Review of Financial Studies 29(7), 18601910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X. (2019) Diversification and Systemic Bank Runs, Working Paper.Google Scholar
Luck, S. and Schempp, P. (2014) Banks, Shadow Banking, and Fragility, ECB Working Paper1726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manz, M. (2009) The optimal level of deposit insurance coverage. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,Working Paper No 09.6.Google Scholar
Moreira, A. and Savov, A. (2017) The macroeconomics of shadow banking. The Journal of Finance 72(6), 23812432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plantin, G. (2015) Shadow banking and bank capital regulation. Review of Financial Studies 28(1), 146175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poszar, Z. (2011) Institutional cash pools and the triffin dilemma of the U.S. Banking System. IMF Working Papers No. 11/190.Google Scholar
Schilling, L. (2018) Optimal Forbearance of Bank Resolution, Becker Friedman InstituteWorking Paper 2018-15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voellmy, L. (2021) Preventing runs with fees and Gates. Journal of Banking and Finance 125, 106065.CrossRefGoogle Scholar