We study the impact of common asset holdings across different financial sectors on financial stability. In particular, we model indirect contagion via fire sales across UK banks and non-banks. Fire sales are triggered by different responses to a financial shock: banks and non unit-linked...

We investigate the impact that the publication of the Bank of England's Financial Stability Report (FSR) has on the stock returns and credit default swap spreads of UK financial institutions. Examining a sample of 73 UK-listed banks and other financial institutions, we find that publication of...

This paper provides a means of estimating how ‘Solvency II' regulations — introduced in the European Union in January 2016 — might affect UK life insurers' incentives to hold different types of financial assets, and how these asset holdings are likely to vary in the face of hypothetical...

We study investor trading behaviour and yield patterns in the UK government bond market during the recent Covid crisis. We show that the yield spike in mid-March 2020 was accompanied by heavy selling of gilts by UK-based insurance companies and pension funds (ICPFs), which we argue was an...

Macroprudential authorities increasingly find themselves needing to assess, and act on, risks from outside the traditional banking system. How should they think about the costs and benefits of these actions? In this paper we present an approach to cost-benefit analysis for one topical issue...

More widespread central clearing could enhance dealers’ ability to intermediate financial markets by increasing the netting of buy and sell trades, thereby reducing the impact of trading on balance sheets and capital ratios. Drawing on trade‑level regulatory data, we study the netting...

Using comprehensive regulatory data, we examine trading by different investor types in government bond markets. Our sample covers virtually all secondary market trading in gilts and contains detailed information on each transaction, including the identities of both counterparties. We find that...

Using a unique regulatory dataset with disclosed counterparty identities, we show that clients in corporate bond markets outperform when they trade with more dealers. The effect is stronger for informationally sensitive clients, assets, and during informationally intensive periods including...

We present a model for assessing how the UK's system of market-based finance — an increasingly important source of credit to the real economy since the financial crisis — might behave under stress. The core of this model is a set of representative agents, which correspond to key sectors of...

We present evidence of product market adjustments and asset reorganizations from the largest ever shift in risk regulation in a developed insurance market. Using proprietary data on insurance risk exposures from the Bank of England, we develop a measure of regulatory constraints that is...