Authors:
- Evan Gatev - Boston College
- Til Schuermann - Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Wharton Financial Institutions Center
- Philip E. Strahan - Boston College, Wharton Financial Institutions Center, and National Bureau of Economic Research
Abstract: Liquidity risk in banking has been attributed to transactions deposits and their potential to spark runs or panics. We show instead that transactions deposits help banks hedge liquidity risk from unused loan commitments. Bank stock-return volatility increases with unused commitments, but only for banks with low levels of transactions deposits. This deposit- lending hedge becomes more powerful during periods of tight liquidity, when nervous investors move funds into their banks. Our results reverse the standard notion of liquidity risk
at banks, where runs from depositors had been seen as the cause of trouble. (JEL G18, G21)
