The Value of Implicit Guarantees

Firms considered "too big to fail" (TBTF) benefit from access to cheaper funding during crises. Using a comprehensive data set of bond characteristics and prices in the primary and secondary market for a sample of 74 U.S. financial institutions, we investigate how reduced debt capital costs affect the positions of shareholders and creditors. Issue and transaction prices are revalued on the basis of a funding advantage estimated using a structural model. Our results indicate that wealth transfers to investors sum up to $365bn and that banks shifted to fixed-rate short-term funding to take advantage of their TBTF status