Banking Structure and The Effect of Monetary Policy on Bank Lending.

This dissertation examines the role of bank structure on the effectiveness of monetary policy. Using time series data for U.S. banks, I examine the varying effect of monetary policy on bank lending for the period 1976-2003. It is found that as the banking industry gets more concentrated (through mergers and acquisitions), the effect of monetary policy transmission (through open market operations) is being mitigated. That was the result of the deregulation of the banking sector that took place in the first half of the 1990s which led to an unprecedented wave of consolidation in the banking sector.Then I investigate the lending channel evidence at the bank level. That is, how important is the cross-sectional differences in the way that banks with varying characteristics respond to policy shocks. Three bank characteristics are highlighted: bank size, liquidity and capitalization. It is found that large, more liquid, and well capitalized banks are more impervious to changes in monetary policy than other banks. Real estate loans, agriculture, commercial and industrial (C&I), and consumer loans are analyzed. The size of the bank is found to be most crucial for real estate lending, where small banks are much more sensitive to changes in the federal funds rate compared to large banks. The effect is comparatively less pronounced for C&I and consumer lending and largely disappears when it comes to agriculture lending. Finally, the question of monetary policy asymmetry is examined. As expected, monetary policy has more effect on bank lending when it tightens than when it eases interest rates. This is found to be the case for all types of loans except for real estate loans, where a decline of FFR entices more real estate lending than a rise.