The prevailing view in the literature is that, in the long run, an increase in the level of interest rates will impact positively on banks' net interest margins. Using a time series of more than 40 years for the German banking system, we confirm this effect (the net interest margin increases by...

Using unique data sets on German banks, we decompose their net interest margin and quantify the different components by estimating the costs of the various functions they perform. We investigate three major functions: namely, liquidity and payment management for the customers, the bearing of...

An increase in the level of interest rates is said to have a negative impact on banks’ net interest margins in the short run. Using a time series of more than 40 years for the German banking system, we show that the opposite effect exists in the long run, where an increase in the level of...

Using unique data of a survey among small and medium-sized German banks, we analyze various aspects of risk management over a short-term and medium-term horizon. We especially analyze the effect of a 200-bp increase in the interest level. We find that, in the first year, the impairments of...

We decompose the change in banks’ net interest margin into a change in market-wide bank rates and a change in balance-sheet composition. The usefulness of this decomposition is illustrated for a detailed data set of German bank balance sheets, broken down into different maturities, creditors...