Purchases of sovereign debt securities by Italian banks during the crisis: the role of balance-sheet conditions

Massimiliano Affinito, Giorgio Albareto () and Raffaele Santioni ()

No 330, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: This paper analyses the main microeconomic determinants of Italian banks� purchases of sovereign debt securities from 2007 to 2013, with special reference to their balance-sheet conditions. The analysis distinguishes two phases of the crisis � the period following the Lehman Brothers collapse and the sovereign debt crisis � and different types of banks (large and small). Results show that banks� specific characteristics and balance-sheet features do matter and that banks use government securities purchases to support their financial and economic conditions. The influence of the balance-sheet conditions differs according to the phase of the crisis and the type of bank.

Keywords: financial crisis; securities portfolio; banks� balance sheets; sovereign risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G01 G21 H63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_330_16

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