Domestic bank intermediation in emerging market economies during the 2008-09 crisis

Abstract

This paper analyses bank intermediation in emerging market economies (EMEs) at the height of the 2008-09 global financial crisis. The analysis is based on central bank responses to a BIS questionnaire prepared in July 2009, and thus provides a unique snapshot that can be used for studies of commercial banking activity in EMEs before and after the crisis. EME banks by and large adjusted to the crisis in ways that stabilised their financial positions. On the funding side, they reduced reliance on wholesale markets and sought to attract retail deposits. On the lending side, banks slowed new lending, shifted towards less risky loans and increased their holdings of government bonds. In an effort to boost liquidity, banks shortened the maturity of their assets, relied less on the interbank market and increased the scope of their transactions with central banks. Foreign and domestically-owned banks adjusted to the crisis in similar ways.