Fragmenting Markets: Post-Crisis Bank Regulations and Financial Market Liquidity

Post-crisis capital regulations and new failure-resolution rules increased the funding costs that are borne by bank shareholders, and thus the cost to buy-side firms for access to space on the balance sheets of large banks. A policy implication is the encouragement of market infrastructure and trading methods that reduce the amount of space on bank balance sheets that is needed to conduct a given amount of trade. Using models and evidence, this book addresses the implications for financial-market liquidity of these regulations for systemically important banks and argues that current rules do n ot allow for potential levels of market efficiency and financial stability. In this insightful analysis of the impact of regulation on financial market efficiency post-2008, the author argues that bank capital levels could actually be pushed higher while still improving the liquidity of markets for safe assets such as low-risk fixed-income instruments by relaxing the leverage-ratio rule and increasing risk-based capital requirements.