bank issues covered bonds backed by a pool of assets that is bankruptcy remote and replenished following losses …. Encumbering assets allows a bank to raise cheap secured debt and expand profitable investment, but it also concentrates risk on …

runs, and face a threat of entry. We show how shocks that increase bank competition or bank transparency increase deposit … rates, costly withdrawals, and thus bank fragility. Therefore, perfect competition is not socially optimal. We also propose … a theory of bank opacity. The cost of opacity is more withdrawals from a solvent bank, lowering bank profits. The …