The role of banks in the Brazilian Interbank Market: Does bank type matter?

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the Brazilian interbank network structure. The Brazilian interbank market clearly presents a topology that is compatible to the free-scale networks. This market is characterized by money centers, which have exposures to many banks and are the most important source of large amounts of lending. Therefore, they have important positions in the network taken into account by the minimal spanning tree and the power domination measures of the network. We also develop a methodology to compare di®erent banks and their relative importance in the network.

Forecasting the Yield Curve for the Euro Region

This paper compares the forecast precision of the Functional Signal plus Noise (FSN), the Dynamic Nelson-Siegel (DL), and a random walk model. The empirical results suggest that both outperform the random walk at short horizons (one-month) and that the the FSN model outperforms the DL at the one-month forecasting horizon. The conclusions provided in this paper are important for policy makers, fixed income portfolio managers, financial institutions and academics.

Financial Stability and Monetary Policy - The case of Brazil

This paper investigates the effects of monetary policy over banks' loans growth and non-performing loans for the recent period in Brazil. We contribute to the literature on bank lending and risk taking channel by showing that during periods of loosening/tightening monetary policy, banks increase/decrease their loans. Moreover, our results illustrate that large, well-capitalized and liquid banks absorb better the effects of monetary policy shocks. We also find that low interest rates lead to an increase in credit risk exposure, supporting the existence of a risk-taking channel. Finally, we show that the impact of monetary policy differs across state-owned, foreign and private domestic banks. These results are important for developing and conducting monetary policy.

The Relationship Between Banking Market Competition and Risk-taking: Do Size and Capitalization Matter?

This paper aims to study the effect of banking competition on Latin American banks' risk-taking and whether capitalization and size changes this relationship. We conclude that: (1) competition affects risk in a non-linear manner: high/low (average) competition are related to more (less) stability; (2) bank's size explains the advantage from competition, while capitalization is only positive for larger banks in this case; (3) capital ratio explains the advantage from lower competition. These results are of uttermost importance for bank regulation, especially due to the recent turmoil in worldwide financial markets.

Bank Efficiency and Default in Brazil: Causality Tests

Periods of Financial Stability are associated to low bank efficiency and high non-performing loans in credit portfolios. Therefore, this paper studies the relationship between bank efficiency and non-performing loans. To evaluate the bank efficiency, we employ a Data Envelopment Analysis. We employ the Arelano-Bond dynamic panel approach and a panel-VAR to test whether non-performing loans Granger cause bank efficiency (bad luck hypothesis) or whether bank efficiency affects loan quality (management with risk aversion). Empirical results for the Brazilian case corroborate the second hypothesis.

Profit, Cost and Scale Efficiency for Latin American Banks: Concentration-Performance Relationship

Using a sample of 495 Latin American banks over the period 2001-2008, this paper investigates how bank concentration influences cost and profit efficiency. We calculate scale efficiency to assess whether these banks are close to their optimal size. We find that banks are more inefficient in profits than in costs; concentration impairs cost efficiency; larger banks have higher performance, but this advantage decreases in concentrated markets; private and foreign banks are the most efficient; most banks are operating under increasing returns of scale, which contributes to the discussion on Basel III.