Peripheral Banking System Fragility and its Effect on EMU Monetary Policy Transmission Mechanism

This article evaluates the transmission through intermediaries taking into consideration the dichotomy between peripheral and core banking systems with regards to the ECB’s standard and non-standard measures of monetary policy by the use of “shadow rate” as an indicator of the monetary policy stance. Bank sector is represented by lending surveys data (BLS) which contain robust quarterly information on changes in loan terms, conditions and standards for both firms and households. By using a Factor Augmented VAR (FAVAR) methodology, we conclude that our model performs well, but it only contradicts the predictions of theory as far as it concerns the credit volume impulse responses functions (IRFs). Selecting a sample of core and peripheral banking systems to apply our methodology, we find the theoretical predictions are confirmed only when the peripheral banking systems are neutralized, indicating that the erratic behaviour of IRFs results from the periphery’s banking system inclusion. We conclude that dislocation in the peripheral segment of European banking system impairs seriously the monetary policy transmission mechanism and, importantly, steps should be undertaken towards risk-sharing in EMU and risk reduction in peripheral banking systems to cure banking system imbalances in the context of EMU.