G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance

• The Canadian corporate investment gap

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-19 Chris D'Souza, Timothy Grieder, Daniel Hyun, Jonathan Witmer

  Business investment has been lower than expected in Canada and abroad since the financial crisis of 2007–09. This corporate investment gap is mirrored in firms’ other financing decisions, as they have increased cash holdings and dividend payments and decreased issuance of debt and equity.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, D9, D92, G, G3, G31, G32

• The potential effect of a central bank digital currency on deposit funding in Canada

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-15 Alejandro García, Bena Lands, Xuezhi Liu, Joshua Slive

  A retail central bank digital currency denominated in Canadian dollars could, in theory, create competition for bank deposit funding.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E44, E5, G, G1, G10, G17, G2, G21, G3, G32, O

• Identifying Aggregate Shocks with Micro-level Heterogeneity: Financial Shocks and Investment Fluctuation

  Staff Working Paper 2020-17 Xing Guo

  This paper identifies aggregate financial shocks and quantifies their effects on business investment based on an estimated DSGE model with firm-level heterogeneity. On average, financial shocks contribute only 3% of the variation in U.S. public firms’ aggregate investment.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Firm dynamics JEL Code(s): E, E1, E12, E2, E22, G, G3, G31, G32

• A Simple Method for Extracting the Probability of Default from American Put Option Prices

  Staff Working Paper 2020-15 Bo Young Chang, Greg Orosi

  A put option is a financial contract that gives the holder the right to sell an asset at a specific price by (or at) a specific date. A put option can therefore provide its holder insurance against a large drop in the stock price. This makes the prices of put options an ideal source of information for a market-based measure of the probability of a firm’s default.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G13, G3, G33

• A Financial Stability Analysis of Zombie Firms in Canada

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-3 Timothy Grieder, Juan Ortega

  We measure the prevalence of zombie firms in Canada and assess how they could potentially affect the financial system.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32

• Assessment of Liquidity Creation in the Canadian Banking System

  Staff Analytical Note 2019-30 Annika Gnann, Sahika Kaya

  Liquidity creation is a fundamental function of banks. It provides the public with easy access to funds. These funds are important because they allow households and businesses to consume and invest. In this note, we measure liquidity creation by Canadian financial institutions from the first quarter of 2012 to the second quarter of 2019, using a methodology suggested by Berger and Bouwman (2009) and known as the BB measure.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Monetary and financial indicators JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, G28, G3, G32

• Borrowing Costs for Government of Canada Treasury Bills

  Staff Analytical Note 2019-28 Jabir Sandhu, Adrian Walton, Jessica Lee

  The cost of borrowing Government of Canada treasury bills (t-bills) in the repurchase (repo) market is mainly explained by the relationship between the parties involved. Some pairs of parties conduct most of their repos for t-bills rather than bonds, and at relatively high borrowing costs. We speculate that these pairs have formed a mutually beneficial service relationship in which one party consistently receives t-bills, while the other receives cash at a relatively cheap rate.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G11, G12, G2, G20, G21, G23, G3, G32

• Relative Value of Government of Canada Bonds

  Staff Analytical Note 2019-23 Jean-Sébastien Fontaine, Jabir Sandhu, Adrian Walton

  Government of Canada bonds in circulation that promise very similar payoffs can have different prices. We study the reason for these differences. Bonds that trade more often and earn high rental income in the repurchase agreement (repo) market tend to have higher prices. Bonds with longer tenors and times to maturity tend to have lower prices. This contrast between cheap and expensive bonds is important because trading volume and rental income can change rapidly, unlike tenor and time to maturity, which are stable.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G11, G12, G2, G23, G3, G32

• Measuring Non-Financial Corporate Sector Vulnerabilities in Canada

  Staff Analytical Note 2019-15 Timothy Grieder, Claire Schaffter

  The ratio of non-financial corporate debt to gross domestic product in Canada has increased noticeably in recent years and is currently at an all-time high. In light of this development, we use a unique firm-level dataset to construct vulnerability indicators for the non-financial corporate sector in Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Monetary and financial indicators, Recent economic and financial developments, Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): G, G0, G01, G3, G32

• Entrepreneurial Incentives and the Role of Initial Coin Offerings

  Staff Working Paper 2019-18 Rodney J. Garratt, Maarten van Oordt

  Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are a new mode of financing start-ups that saw an explosion in popularity in 2017 but declined in popularity in the second half of 2018 as regulatory pressure, instances of fraud and reports of poor performance began to undermine their reputation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Exchange rates JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32