This paper offers two new explanations for banks' home bias in government bond holdings: a sovereign-based rating cap … on corporates and the existence of a ‘bank tax'. These are complementary to the four explanations offered in the … (ESBies) by banks in low-rated countries. Bank regulations such as constraints on large exposure or risk-based capital on …

that differences in bank funding costs help explain the varying appetite of banks for relatively high-yielding (and hence … match the return on their euro government bond portfolio with their own funding costs. In addition, prospects for a …

(ESCB) has agreed to the temporary transfer of the national central bank's gold to a debt agency in full independence. This … explains that gold has been used as collateral in the past and how a gold-backed bond might work and how it could lower yields … (SMP) and its recently announced Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs). Namely, a central bank using its balance sheet to …