The supplementary leverage ratio (SLR) rule recently imposed on the very largest U.S. banks has revived the question of whether banks sidestep such rules by shifting toward riskier, higher-yielding assets. Using difference-in-difference analysis, we find that, after the SLR was finalized in...

The U.S. banking industry is experiencing a renewed focus on retail banking, a trend often attributed to the stability and profitability of retail activities. This paper examines the impact of banks' retail intensity on performance from 1997 to 2004 by developing three complementary definitions...

The policy measures taken since the financial crisis have greatly expanded the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and have thus raised the level of aggregate bank reserves as well. Over the same period there has been a significant shift in the timing of payments made over the Federal...

We employ a model of leverage-induced explosive behavior in financial markets to develop a measure of financial market instability. Specifically, we derive a quantitative condition for how large levered investors can become relative to the whole market before the demand curve for securities...

Better customer service provisions by banks - such as more branches and ATMs, longer business hours, and more personalized services - help attract more core deposits and increase funding stickiness by raising depositors' switching costs and enhancing their loyalty. Funding stickiness from...

We construct a new systemic risk measure that quantifies vulnerability to fire-sale spillovers using detailed regulatory balance sheet data for U.S. commercial banks and repo market data for broker-dealers. Even for moderate shocks in normal times, fire-sale externalities can be substantial. For...

A fundamental conclusion drawn from the recent financial crisis is that the supervision and regulation of financial firms in isolation - a purely microprudential perspective - are not sufficient to maintain financial stability. Rather, a macroprudential perspective, which evaluates and responds...

We find that competition from payday lenders leads depository institutions to raise overdraft fees and reduce the availability of 'free' checking accounts. We attribute this rise in prices partly to adverse selection created by banks' practice of charging a flat fee regardless of the overdraft...

The financial crisis of 2007-09 has sparked keen interest in models of financial frictions and their impact on macro activity. Most models share the feature that borrowers suffer a contraction in the quantity of credit. However, the evidence suggests that although bank lending contracted during...