We study the relationship between bank participation in derivatives contracting and bank lending for the period June 30, 1985 through the end of 1992. Since 1985 commercial banks have become active participants in the interest-rate derivative products markets as end-users, or intermediaries, or...

It has been argued that underpriced federal deposit insurance provides incentive for insured institutions to increase the value of shareholder equity by expanding into activities that shift risk onto the deposit insurer. Derivative instruments have been used by firms to change their risk...

We present a model in which the addition of an option market leads to sunspot equilibria in an economy which has no sunspot equilibrium before the market is introduced. This phenomenon occurs because the payoff of an option contract is contingent upon market prices, and while prices are taken as...

In April 1995, central banks in twenty-six countries conducted a global survey of the financial derivatives markets' size and structure. The authors' analysis of the survey results suggests that at the time of the survey, dealers in the aggregate assumed only small exposures to price risks in...

This article examines the major differences in the accounting and stock market characteristics of banking organizations that use derivatives relative to those that do not.

Credit derivative contracts offer a new route for managing counterparty exposures. This article discusses two formats of these contracts. The contracts have potential for providing portfolio managers with a cost effective, just-in-time source of liquidity.