The Sovereign-Bank Nexus in EMDEs: What is it, is it Rising, and What are the Policy Implications?

52 Pages Posted: 6 Aug 2019

See all articles by Erik Feyen

Erik Feyen

World Bank - Finance & Markets Global Practice; Ahead Analytics Inc

Igor Esteban Zuccardi Huertas

World Bank

Date Written: July 30, 2019

Abstract

This paper explores the sovereign-bank nexus in emerging markets and developing economies: the interconnectedness between the health of the sovereign and the banking system. Data from 140 emerging markets and developing economies suggest that this nexus is rising. First, banks have increased their exposure to their sovereigns in the past decade. Second, government debt has grown, and fiscal positions have deteriorated, raising the specter of sovereign stress. Third, banking system assets and bank credit to the private sector have steadily increased, which may restrict the sovereign's capacity to contain a banking crisis. Fourth, empirical evidence from 36 emerging markets and developing economies documents the existence of the nexus and suggests that it has increased recently. However, deeper country analysis is required for a better understanding of the sovereign-bank nexus, given country idiosyncrasies, including the structure of sovereign debt and the composition of the investor base, and data lags and opacities. To minimize the adverse effects of the sovereign-bank nexus, efforts should be focused on maintaining fiscal and bank buffers, strengthening surveillance and supervision of the banking system, improving transparency and data quality of bank-sovereign linkages, better addressing the regulatory treatment of the sovereign exposures and government support of the banking sector, and carefully evaluating the policy trade-offs in the sovereign-bank nexus.

Keywords: Legal Institutions of the Market Economy, Financial Sector Policy, Macroeconomic Management, Economic Growth, Financial Structures

Suggested Citation

Feyen, Erik H. B. and Zuccardi Huertas, Igor Esteban, The Sovereign-Bank Nexus in EMDEs: What is it, is it Rising, and What are the Policy Implications? (July 30, 2019). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 8950, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3430565

Erik H. B. Feyen (Contact Author)

World Bank - Finance & Markets Global Practice ( email )

1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433
United States
+1 (202) 458 2038 (Phone)
+1 (202) 522 3184 (Fax)

Ahead Analytics Inc ( email )

Washington, DC
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.aheadanalytics.com

Igor Esteban Zuccardi Huertas

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
169
Abstract Views
736
Rank
319,049
PlumX Metrics