New evidence of scope economies among lending,deposit-taking, loan commitments and mutual fund activities.

Financial innovation and technology affect bank cost, revenue and profits. Most of the previous empirical studies have not found significant cost, profit or revenue scope economies or output pair complementarities either between traditional and non-traditional banking products or between traditional activities themselves. We study scope economies and output pair complementarities in a ‘broad banking’ environment: the Spanish banking sector. The results indicate that after including off-balance sheet business in the output mix, cost and profit scope economies rise and are statistically significant. Besides, consumer valuation of financial services is only detected when the off-balance sheet business is added to the output definition.banking, scope economies, off-balance sheet.

The determinants of bank margins revisited: A note on the effects of diversification

Most of the theoretical and empirical literature on bank margins has dealt solely with interest margins. Applying the seminal Ho-Saunders model (JFQA, 1981) to a multi-output framework, we show that the relationship between bank margins and market power (controlling for risk) varies significantly across bank specializations. Using a set of both accounting margins and New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) margins, we find that market power rises significantly with output diversification towards non-traditional activities. These results contribute to explain the paradoxical coexistence of decreasing interest margins and higher market power found in previous studies.bank margins, specialization, market structure.

The finance-growth nexus: a regional perspective

Recent cross-country studies suggest that finance and economic growth are significantly related. The characteristics and geographical scope of this relationship has become central to explain differences in economic development. Two concepts are highly relevant in this context. Firstly, financial deepening, that involves the development of traditional and non-traditional financial services in these territories. Secondly, bank dependence, which makes households and firms rely heavily on banks. Employing dynamic causality and panel data techniques on a sample of Spanish banks during 1993-1999 we find that -at a regional level- economic growth predicted financial deepening in this period which suggests that banks locate and distribute new financial products mostly in well developed territories. Regarding bank dependence, bank lending specialization appears to be a key issue in financing firms and households compared to other bank specializations. According to previous studies, lending dependence confer banks a special role in promoting regional economic growth in bank-based financial systems.Banks, financial deepening, bank dependence, regional growth.

Scope Economies and Competition Beyond the Balance Sheet: a ‘broad banking’ Experience

There is a recent trend in banking research aiming to assess how financial innovation and technology are affecting bank cost, revenue and profits. Most of the studies have not found significant cost, profit or revenue complementarities either between traditional and non-traditional banking products or between traditional activities themselves. We study complementarities in a ‘broad banking’ environment: the Spanish banking sector. The results indicate that after including off-balance sheet business in the output mix, cost and profit scope economies increase significantly. Besides, consumer valuation of financial services is only detected when the off-balance sheet business is added to the output definition.banking, cost, profit, scope economies, off-balance sheet.

How effective are rewards programs in promoting payment card usage? Empirical evidence

Card issuers have mainly relied on rewards programs as their main strategic driver to increase electronic payments. However, there is scarce evidence on the effectiveness of rewards programs. This paper offers novel evidence on two key issues: i) it measures the impact of rewards programs on the use of payment cards; and ii) it quantifies their economic impact in terms of the cash substitution. The results show that rewards may significantly modify preferences for card payments, their economic impact vary significantly across types of rewards and merchant activities and rewards seem to be more effective on average for debit cardholders. JEL Classification: G20, D12, E41cardholders, merchants, payment cards, preferences, rewards

Do non-financial firms react to monetary policy actions as banks do?

The theory of the bank lending channel indicates that financial institutions with larger size, higher capitalisation and higher liquidity present a greater capacity to maintain their levels of credit supply in a situation of monetary contraction. However, there is a paucity of (European) studies that analyse the bank lending channel from the non-financial firms’ perspective. This paper analyzes the impact of monetary policy actions on a large sample of Spanish firms. The empirical evidence for Spain shows that the impact of size, solvency and liquidity are similar for banks and non-financial firms.monetary policy transmission, bank lending channel, liquidity, non-financial firms, banks.

Regulating two-sided markets: an empirical investigation

We study the effect of government encouraged or mandated interchange fee ceilings on consumer and merchant adoption and usage of payment cards in an economy where card acceptance is far from complete. We believe that we are the first to use bank- level data to study the impact of interchange fee regulation. We find that consumer and merchant welfare improved because of increased consumer and merchant adoption leading to greater usage of payment cards. We also find that bank revenues increased when interchange fees were reduced although these results are critically dependent on merchant acceptance being far from complete at the beginning and during the implementation of interchange fee ceilings. In addition, there is most likely a threshold interchange fee below which social welfare decreases although our data currently does not allow us to quantify it.Payment systems ; Consumers

Regulating two-sided markets: an empirical investigation

We study the effect of government encouraged or mandated interchange fee ceilings on consumer and merchant adoption and usage of payment cards in an economy where card acceptance is far from complete. We believe that we are the first to use bank-level data to study the impact of interchange fee regulation. We find that consumer and merchant welfare improved because of increased consumer and merchant adoption leading to greater usage of payment cards. We also find that bank revenues increased when interchange fees were reduced although these results are critically dependent on merchant acceptance being far from complete at the beginning and during the implementation of interchange fee ceilings. In addition, there is most likely a threshold interchange fee below which social welfare decreases although our data currently does not allow us to quantify it. JEL Classification: L11, G21, D53consumer payment choice, merchant payment adoption, network competition

Securitization, bank lending and credit quality: the case of Spain

While the 2007-2010 financial crisis has hit a variety of countries asymmetrically, the case of Spain is particularly illustrative: this country experienced a pronounced housing bubble partly funded via spectacular developments in its securitization markets leading to looser credit standards and subsequent financial stability problems. We analyze the sequential deterioration of credit in this country considering rating changes in individual securitized deals and on balance sheet bank conditions. Using a sample of 20,286 observations on securities and rating changes from 2000Q1 to 2010Q1 we build a model in which loan growth, on balancesheet credit quality and rating changes are estimated simultaneously. Our results suggest that loan growth significantly affects on balance-sheet loan performance with a lag of at least two years. Additionally, loan performance is found to lead rating changes with a lag of four quarters. Importantly, bank characteristics (in particular, observed solvency, cash flow generation and cost efficiency) also affect ratings considerably. Additionally, these other bank characteristics seem to have a higher weight in the rating changes of securities issued by savings banks as compared to those issued by commercial banks. JEL Classification: G21, G12financial instability, lending, risk, securitization

Are covered bonds a substitute for mortgage-backed securities?

Covered bonds and mortgage-backed securities both allow mortgages to be financed with duration-matched bonds. Given the problems in the MBS market during the financial crisis, some suggest that covered bonds might be a substitute for MBS. We examine the use of covered bonds and MBS in the U.S. and Europe, finding that the two are used for different purposes. Covered bonds are used more to increase liquidity than are MBS. MBS are more often used in ways consistent with exploiting some kinds of agency problems.Bonds ; Mortgage-backed securities