Banks as Liquidity Providers: An Explanation for the Coexistence of Lending and Deposit-Taking

Posted: 15 Nov 2003

See all articles by Anil K. Kashyap

Anil K. Kashyap

University of Chicago, Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Raghuram G. Rajan

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; International Monetary Fund (IMF); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Jeremy C. Stein

Harvard University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Abstract

What ties together the traditional commercial banking activities of deposit-taking and lending? We argue that since banks often lend via commitments, their lending and deposit-taking may be two manifestations of one primitive function: the provision of liquidity on demand. There will be synergies between the two activities to the extent that both require banks to hold large balances of liquid assets: If deposit withdrawals and commitment takedowns are imperfectly correlated, the two activities can share the costs of the liquid-asset stockpile. We develop this idea with a simple model, and use a variety of data to test the model empirically.

Suggested Citation

Kashyap, Anil K. and Rajan, Raghuram G. and Stein, Jeremy C., Banks as Liquidity Providers: An Explanation for the Coexistence of Lending and Deposit-Taking. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=309154

Anil K. Kashyap (Contact Author)

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Raghuram G. Rajan

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Jeremy C. Stein

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