Speeches given by decision makers within Central Banks are subject to frequent and careful analysis. However, a systematic process for their evaluation has remained elusive. This paper introduces a methodology for a systematic process in the form of a semantic network that can be used to augment existing approaches. The approach suggests a correlation between the new systematic method and publi...

The Capital Assistance Program (CAP) was created by the U.S. government in February 2009 to provide backup capital to large financial institutions unable to raise sufficient capital from private investors. Under the terms of the CAP, a participating bank receives contingent capital by issuing preferred shares to the Treasury combined with embedded options for both parties: the bank gets the opt...

Since August 1995, Japanese banks have had to pay a premium on Eurodollar and Euroyen interbank loans relative to their U.S. and U.K. competitors. This so-called “Japan premium” provides a market indicator of investor anxiety about the ability of Japanese banks to repay loans. We examine the determinants of the Japan premium and find that events indicating concrete actions by the Japanese gover...

Banks are an important source of funding in economies all around the world, making it vital to understand how banks directly and indirectly affect funding through capital markets. Few issues have perhaps been as controversial as the appropriate scope of bank activities and whether banks should participate directly in capital market activities, providing both lending and other services, such as ...

Investment banks frequently hire analysts from rating agencies. A widely held view is that this “revolving door” undermines analysts’ incentives to issue accurate ratings. Using a hand-collected dataset of the performance and career paths of 245 credit analysts between 2000 and 2009, I show that the ratings by analysts who move to investment banks are on average more accurate than those by thei...

Financial services firms everywhere have undergone major changes over the last several decades. These firms include retail commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, mutual fund companies, securities brokers, and credit card companies. The decade of the nineties has witnessed a significant number of mergers among these firms worldwide. Some mergers were intended to achieve economi...

We develop a dynamic model to assess the effects of liquidity and leverage requirements on banks’ insolvency risk. The model features endogenous capital structure, liquid asset holdings, payout, and default decisions. In the model, banks face taxation, flotation costs of securities, and default costs. They are financed with equity, insured deposits, and risky debt. Using the model, we show that...