Banks are optimally opaque institutions. They produce debt for use as a transaction medium (bank money), which requires … that information about the backing assets - loans - not be revealed, so that bank money does not fluctuate in value …-insensitive assets. For the economy as a whole, firms endogenously separate into bank finance and capital market/stock market finance …

We develop a model of the joint capital structure decisions of banks and their borrowers. Strikingly high bank leverage … emerges naturally from the interplay between two sets of forces. First, seniority and diversification reduce bank asset … underlie our structural model, we can quantify the impact capital regulation and other government interventions have on bank …

that makes risky long-term loans to firms, funded by deposits from savers. Government guarantees create a role for bank …

. Banks maximize profits, and there are no conflicts of interest between bank shareholders and creditors. The theory explains …