June 11, 2009 Collateral Management in the LVTS by Canadian Financial Institutions Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2009 Chris D'Souza This article examines the incentives for banks to hold various assets on their balance sheets for use as collateral when the opportunity cost of doing so can be high. Focusing on the five-year period (2002-07) that preceded the financial crisis, it examines the choices made by financial institutions among the assets that are pledged as collateral in Canada's Large Value Transfer System. This serves as a baseline for collateral-management practices during relatively normal times. The results of this study are important for policy-makers, especially the Bank of Canada, which is concerned both about the efficient functioning of fixed-income markets and about the credit risk it ultimately bears in insuring LVTS settlement. The results suggest that relative market liquidity and market-making capacity are important factors in the choice of securities pledged as collateral in the LVTS. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Payment clearing and settlement systems
Real Effects of Price Stability with Endogenous Nominal Indexation Staff Working Paper 2009-16 Césaire Meh, Vincenzo Quadrini, Yaz Terajima We study a model with repeated moral hazard where financial contracts are not fully indexed to inflation because nominal prices are observed with delay as in Jovanovic & Ueda (1997). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial markets, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E3, E31, E4, E44, E5, E52
Complex Ownership and Capital Structure Staff Working Paper 2009-12 Teodora Paligorova, Zhaoxia Xu This paper investigates the impact of pyramid ownership structure and multiple controlling shareholders on firm leverage. Pyramids, having at least one controlling shareholder and a subsidiary, rely significantly more on debt financing than non-pyramid firms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): G, G3, G31, G32
Comparison of Auction Formats in Canadian Government Auctions Staff Working Paper 2009-5 Olivier Armantier, Nourredine Lafhel Using a rich sample of Canadian government securities auctions, we estimate the structural parameters of a share-auction model accounting for asymmetries across bidders. We find little evidence of asymmetries between participants at Canadian government nominal bond auctions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4, D44, D6, D63, G, G2, G28
The Impact of Market Timing on Canadian and U.S. Firms' Capital Structure Staff Working Paper 2009-1 Zhaoxia Xu This paper studies the impact of market timing on Canadian firms' capital structure and makes a comparison with U.S. firms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32
How Important Is Liquidity Risk for Sovereign Bond Risk Premia? Evidence from the London Stock Exchange Staff Working Paper 2008-47 Ron Alquist This paper uses the framework of arbitrage-pricing theory to study the relationship between liquidity risk and sovereign bond risk premia. The London Stock Exchange in the late 19th century is an ideal laboratory in which to test the proposition that liquidity risk affects the price of sovereign debt. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): F, F2, F21, F3, F34, F36, G, G1, G12, G15
November 11, 2008 The Role of Dealers in Providing Interday Liquidity in the Canadian-Dollar Market Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Chris D'Souza Access to information about the future direction of the exchange rate can be extremely valuable in the foreign exchange market. Evidence presented in this article suggests that Canadian dealers are more likely to provide interday liquidity to foreign, rather than Canadian, financial customers, since foreign financial flows can be more informative about future movements in the exchange rate. The author reveals a statistical relationship between the supply of liquidity provided by non-financial firms and that provided by dealing institutions across time, and across markets, and suggests that the relationship between the positions of commercial clients and market-makers, and the role played by dealers in interday liquidity provision, has been understated in the market microstructure literature. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rates, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing
The Role of Foreign Exchange Dealers in Providing Overnight Liquidity Staff Working Paper 2008-44 Chris D'Souza This paper illustrates that dealers in foreign exchange markets not only provide intraday liquidity, they are key participants in the provision of overnight liquidity. Dealing institutions receive compensation for holding undesired inventory balances in part from the information they receive in customer trades. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, F, F3, F31, G, G2, G21
Macroeconomic Determinants of the Term Structure of Corporate Spreads Staff Working Paper 2008-29 Jun Yang We investigate the macroeconomic determinants of corporate spreads using a no-arbitrage technique. Structural shocks are identified by a New-Keynesian model. Treasury bonds are priced in an affine model with time-varying risk premia. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E44, G, G1, G12
The Implementation of Monetary Policy in Canada Staff Discussion Paper 2008-9 Walter Engert, Toni Gravelle, Donna Howard The authors present a detailed discussion of the Bank of Canada's framework for the implementation of monetary policy. As background, they provide a brief overview of the financial system in Canada, including a discussion of the financial services industry and the money market. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Monetary policy implementation, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, G, G2, G21