Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports Stressed, Not Frozen: The Federal Funds Market in the Financial Crisis Gara Afonso Anna Kovner Antoinette Schoar Staff Report no. 437 March 2010 Revised May 2011 This paper presents preliminary findings and is being distributed to economists and other interested readers solely to stimulate discussion and elicit comments. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and are not necessarily reflective of views at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors. Stressed, Not Frozen: The Federal Funds Market in the Financial Crisis Gara Afonso, Anna Kovner, and Antoinette Schoar Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 437 March 2010; revised May 2011 JEL classification: G21, G01, D40, E40 Abstract We examine the importance of liquidity hoarding and counterparty risk in the U.S. overnight interbank market during the financial crisis of 2008. Our findings suggest that counterparty risk plays a larger role than does liquidity hoarding: the day after Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, loan terms become more sensitive to borrower characteristics. In particular, poorly performing large banks see an increase in spreads of 25 basis points, but are borrowing 1 percent less, on average. Worse performing banks do not hoard liquidity. While the interbank market does not freeze entirely, it does not seem to expand to meet latent demand. Key words: fed funds, financial crisis, liquidity, interbank lending, hoarding Afonso: Federal Reserve Bank of New York (e-mail:
[email protected]).