Quantitative Easing and Bank Lending: The Liquidity Channel

Abstract

This paper provides direct evidence on the effect of quantitative easing (QE) policies on bank lending through the liquidity channel. By looking at changes in banks' liquidity-lending sensitivity in different rounds of QE, our results show that banks with higher levels of cash & reserve holding (especially excess reserves) are more responsive to the large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs) after the 2007-08 financial crisis, compared to their liquidity-constrained counterparts. Interestingly, we find this liquidity channel to be almost equally significant for both C&I loans and real estate lending. Our results are robust to different specifications, alternative measures of banks' liquidity constraint, and inclusion of controls for demand-side factors. Further analysis indicates that this liquidity channel is distinct from the net-worth channel and capital requirement constraint documented in the literature.