Dmitry Khametshin

Common Funding and Sovereign Demand of Banks

joint with Kandarp Srinivasan

Current version

Do banks actively seek assets that are widely held across the financial system? We measure the extent to which sovereigns are systemically linked by a common bank investor base, and show that banks have a unique preference for funding commonality. Banks are 10% more likely to hold bonds of more commonly funded sovereigns, consistent with the anticipation of regulatory coordination in the event of distress. A structural portfolio demand system quantifies the bond pricing implications of this preference. Counterfactual analysis shows that in the absence of these preferences, borrowing costs would increase, raising yields by about 1% on average.