Risk Taking and Interest Rates: Evidence from Decades in the Global Syndicated Loan Market

Seung Jung Lee, Lucy Qian Liu () and Viktors Stebunovs
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Viktors Stebunovs: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/viktors-stebunovs.htm

No 1188, International Finance Discussion Papers from Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Abstract: We study how low interest rates in the United States affect risk taking in the market for cross-border corporate loans. Because banks tend to originate these loans with intent to sell to nonbank investors, we examine risk taking by the broad financial system. To the extent that actions of the Federal Reserve affect U.S. interest rates, our analysis provides evidence of cross-border spillover effects of U.S. monetary policy and highlights the global lending and risk-taking channels. We find that movements in the U.S. interest rates have an important effect on ex-ante credit risk of cross-border corporate loans, though the channels are different in the pre- and post-crisis periods. Before the crisis, banks made ex-ante riskier loans to non-U.S. borrowers in response to a decline in U.S. short-term interest rates, and, after it, banks and nonbanks originated such loans in response to a decline in U.S. longer- term interest rates. Economic uncertainty, risk appetite, and the U.S. dollar exchange rate appear to play a limited role in explaining ex-ante credit risk. Our results highlight the potential policy challenges faced by central banks in affecting credit risk cycles in their own jurisdictions.

Keywords: Syndicated loans; Risk taking; Monetary policy; International spillovers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E44 E52 F30 F42 G15 G20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-fmk, nep-ifn and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Working Paper: Risk Taking and Interest Rates: Evidence from Decades in the Global Syndicated Loan Market (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedgif:1188

DOI: 10.17016/IFDP.2017.1188

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