Banking on Deposits: Maturity Transformation Without Interest Rate Risk

76 Pages Posted: 14 May 2018 Last revised: 3 Mar 2023

See all articles by Itamar Drechsler

Itamar Drechsler

Wharton School, Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Alexi Savov

New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Philipp Schnabl

New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: May 2018

Abstract

We show that maturity transformation does not expose banks to significant interest rate risk|it hedges it. This is due to banks' deposit franchise. The deposit franchise gives banks substantial market power over deposits, allowing them to pay deposit rates that are low and insensitive to market interest rates. Maintaining this power requires banks to incur large, interest-insensitive operating costs, so that the total costs of deposits are similar to fixed-rate, long-term debt. Hedging these costs therefore requires banks to lend long term|i.e., to do maturity transformation. As predicted by this theory, we document that banks' net interest margins have been highly stable and insensitive to interest rates, and banks' net worth is largely insulated from monetary policy shocks. We further show that banks match the interest-rate sensitivities of their expenses and income one-for-one, so that banks with less interest-sensitive deposits (more market power) hold assets with substantially longer duration. Our results show that deposits are special because they are short-term and yet have interest-insensitive costs, which explains why banks are able to supply long-term credit.

Suggested Citation

Drechsler, Itamar and Savov, Alexi and Schnabl, Philipp, Banking on Deposits: Maturity Transformation Without Interest Rate Risk (May 2018). NBER Working Paper No. w24582, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3177942

Itamar Drechsler (Contact Author)

Wharton School, Department of Finance ( email )

3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6365
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/idrechsl/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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Alexi Savov

New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance ( email )

Stern School of Business
44 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10012-1126
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Philipp Schnabl

New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance ( email )

Stern School of Business
44 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10012-1126
United States

HOME PAGE: http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sternfin/pschnabl/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

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