Asset-Liability Dependency: Evidence from a Sample of European Commercial Banks

Posted: 13 Apr 2011

See all articles by Rosa Cocozza

Rosa Cocozza

University of Naples Federico II - Faculty of Economics

Domenico Curcio

University of Naples Federico II; Arcelli Centre for Monetary and Financial Studies (CASMEF)

Igor Gianfrancesco

Luiss Guido Carli University; Banca Popolare di Spoleto

Date Written: December 24, 2010

Abstract

A recent strand of literature emphasizes a scope economy between bank funding and lending, which is related to the banks’ role of liquidity providers. These papers find that the presence of demand deposits can “naturally” hedge the liquidity risk stemming from unused loan commitments [Kashyap et al. (2002), Gatev and Strahan (2006), Gatev et al. (2009)]. Their results support the theoretical argument that, by exposing themselves to asset-side and liability-side liquidity risks simultaneously, banks can enjoy a risk-reducing synergy, and explain the positive correlation across banks between demand deposits and loan commitments.

This paper aims at providing a measure of asset-liability dependency for a sample of European banks through the application of the canonical correlation analysis [see De Young and Yom (2008), Simonson et al. (1983),and Fraser et al. (1974) for applications of this technique within the U.S. banking system]. By using canonical correlation we can infer which assets banks match with which liabilities in asset-liability management. Furthermore, canonical correlation is a very flexible tool because it doesn’t require any particular structure on the data and any assumptions about the casual direction between assets and liabilities.

We show how the relationships between asset and liability accounts at European commercial banks changed between 1999 and 2007. We find that the developments that the European banking systems have gone through have permitted banks to operate with weaker balance sheet constraints. Finally, we discuss the implications stemming from the evidence we provide from a risk management perspective.

Keywords: Canonical correlation, Asset-liability management, Commercial banks, Risk management

JEL Classification: G21, G32

Suggested Citation

Cocozza, Rosa and Curcio, Domenico and Gianfrancesco, Igor and Gianfrancesco, Igor, Asset-Liability Dependency: Evidence from a Sample of European Commercial Banks (December 24, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1807990

Rosa Cocozza (Contact Author)

University of Naples Federico II - Faculty of Economics ( email )

Via Cintia
Complesso Monte S. Angelo
Naples, Naples 80126
Italy
+39/81675083 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.docenti.unina.it/rosa.cocozza

Domenico Curcio

University of Naples Federico II ( email )

Via Cintia, Monte S. Angelo
Naples, Naples 80126
Italy
+393402651322 (Phone)

Arcelli Centre for Monetary and Financial Studies (CASMEF) ( email )

Viale Romania 32
Rome, 00197
Italy

Igor Gianfrancesco

Luiss Guido Carli University

viale Romania 32
Roma, 00198
Italy

Banca Popolare di Spoleto ( email )

PIazza Pianciani 5
Spoleto, PG 06049
Italy

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