The effects of social media use by bank depositors

Abstract

A simple model is developed to analyze the effects of social media use by a bank’s uninsured depositors. While social media increases the likelihood of bank runs, it can be ex-ante beneficial to a bank by raising its shareholders’ equity. Social media enhances monitoring of a bank’s financial condition, thereby giving uninsured depositors a valuable option to withdraw early and avoid potential losses in states when a bank is likely to be insolvent. Recognizing this option, uninsured depositors require a lower promised interest rate that reduces the bank’s cost of funding at the expense of a greater liability for the bank’s deposit insurer.