We examine the effect of the short-selling ban in 2011 on Spanish stocks on the level of risk in the banking sector. Before the ban, short positions were found to be positive and significantly related to the creditworthiness of medium-sized banks, these being generally less internationally...

The worldwide availability of easy external financing has been an essential driver of recent M&A activity and a growing perception exists that such conditions may have resulted in a large number of non-value increasing transactions. This paper evaluates the interaction between credit conditions,...

This paper analyses the informational content of financial prices in Spain, mainly from the viewpoint of a central bank. In particular, we examine the informational content of domestic yields and yield spreads, foreign-domestic spreads, credit quality spreads, stock prices and exchange rates on...

We analyze the impact of high frequency trading in financial markets based on a model with three types of traders: liquidity traders, market makers, and high frequency traders. Our four main findings are: i) The price impact of the liquidity trades is higher in the presence of the high frequency...

The observed high levels of banks’ operating efficiency, profi ts and market values in the years before the financial crisis raise reasonable doubts about the information content of conventional performance measures for the accurate assessment of the efficiency of banking intermediation. In...

Since the 1980s, important and progressive reforms have profoundly reshaped the structure of the Chinese banking system. Many empirical studies suggest that financial reform promoted bank competition in most mature and emerging economies. However, some earlier studies that adopted conventional...

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we present an up-to-date assessment of the differences across euro area countries in the distributions of various measures of debt conditional on household characteristics. We consider three different outcomes: the probability of holding debt, the amount...

Do laws to protect borrowers curb foreclosures? This question is addressed by analysing the impact of foreclosure laws on default rates at state level in the US mortgage market. Using panel data techniques, we find a statistically significant effect of regulation on the different stages of the...

This article estimates a general credit risk model with both macroeconomic and latent credit factors for Spanish banks during the period 2004-2010. The proposed framework allows to estimate with bank level data both the standard credit risk model of Basel II and generalized models. I fi nd...

Cross-border bank flows are experiencing a protracted contraction after the global financial crisis, in stark contrast with the recovery of other capital flows. The process can be driven by ongoing shifts in global banks international funding patters. Banks net issuances in international markets...