Where Did All The Money Go?
Chapter 7: Rise of the
Shadow Banking System
(2014)
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As memories of the Great Depression faded, an antigovernment movement began
to take hold in the United States led by a group of people who possessed an
abiding faith in the efficacy of free markets to solve all economic
problems. This movement became the foundation of the
Conservative Movement in the 1960s and, in
turn, provided the ideological foundation of the Republican Party in the
1970s. Their mantra of lower taxes, less government, and deregulation
combined with disdain for government has dominated the political debate ever
since. These ideas were in the forefront of the
Reagan Revolution that began with the election
of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and, as was noted in Chapter 4, they were embraced
by the Democratic Party in the 1990s. They reached a crescendo in the 2000s
after the Republican Party took control of both the Whitehouse and Congress
in 2000. (Harvey
Frank
Amy
Westen
Altemeyer)
The success of the Conservative Movement over the past thirty-five years in
undermining the regulatory framework setup in response to the disaster that
followed in the wake of the
Crash of 1929 has been phenomenal—not only in
passing legislation that deregulated our financial institutions but in
reducing the funding for regulatory agencies and in fostering a
non-enforcement attitude toward existing regulations as well. At the same
time, changes took place in our financial system that made what was left of
our regulatory system in the early 2000s essentially unworkable.
It was clear in 1980 that thrift institutions (i.e.,
savings banks and
savings and loan associations) were in serious
trouble as a result of the rise of
Money Market Mutual Funds (short-term
mutual funds with all of the characteristics
of a savings account) and
Cash Management Accounts (money market funds
that allowed customers to withdraw their funds by writing a check) in the
1970s. Even though these funds were uninsured, the high interest rates in
the late 1970s caused by the high rate of inflation during that era allowed
money market funds to invest directly in Treasury securities backed by the
full faith and credit of the federal government as well as in highly rated
corporate debt and still pay a higher rate of interest to investors than was
available on the regulated accounts at banks. Thus, given the high quality
of their investments, money market funds did not have to be insured to
compete directly with the insured deposits of banks, and the resulting loss
of deposits to money market funds put depository institutions in a serious
bind.
At the same time there was a second change in the financial system that was
having a negative effect on banks, namely, the development of the market for
Repurchase Agreements—a collateralized loan
agreement wherein the borrower sells a security to a lender with the
understanding that the borrower will buy it back (i.e., repurchase it) on a
specific date at a higher price, the difference in price being the interest
earned by the seller/lender. (FRBNY
FDIC)
The market for repurchase agreements (and money market funds to the extent
they invested in short-term corporate debt) competed directly with banks for
their short-term loans. This was so because the existence of an efficient
market for
repurchase agreements gave large depositors at
banks the choice of leaving their unused balances in non-interest earning
checking accounts or earning a return on these balances by lending them out
for short periods of time, even as short as overnight, in the repurchase
market. Borrowers in these markets, thus, had a choice of borrowing for
short periods of time either from a bank or from its depositors.
By 1980 it was felt that something had to be done about money market funds
and repurchase agreements—that either these markets had to be regulated in
such a way as to keep them from competing with banks, or banks had to be
deregulated. In the deregulatory spirit of the times, this led to passage of
the
Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980
(DIDMCA) which authorized
Negotiable Order of Withdrawal (NOW) and
Automatic Transfer System (ATS) accounts that
effectively allowed banks to pay interest on their checking accounts and
write checks on their savings accounts. At the same time DIDMCA provided a
mechanism by which interest rate ceilings on
time deposits (savings
accounts and
certificates of deposit) would be phased out
by 1986, and there was an expansion in the kinds of loans and investments
that thrifts were allowed to make. This act also increased the insurance on
deposits from $40,000 to $100,000. (FDIC)
While DIDMCA act allowed banks, in effect, to pay interest on their checking
accounts and write checks on their savings accounts, and, thus, to compete
with money market funds for deposits, it left the repurchase agreement
market completely unregulated and the money market funds almost so, and it
did little to solve the immediate problem of these institutions drawing off
funds from banks, especially thrifts. Thrifts held long-term assets, mostly
mortgages, that paid fixed rates of interest. They could not increase the
interest rates on their deposits to match the rates offered by money market
funds without losing money. At the same time, when market rates go up, the
values of assets that pay fixed rates of interest go down. Thus, as thrifts
lost deposits to money market funds they were forced to sell off their
long-term assets at a loss to fund the withdrawals of their depositors.
By 1982 thrifts were in serious trouble as a result of the economic
recession and the high interest rates caused by the anti-inflationary
policies of the Fed. In response the
Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act
of 1982 was passed to further deregulate banks. This act 1) lessened the
capital and reserve requirements of banks, 2) provided mechanisms to assist
failing banks rather than closing them, 3) accelerated the phase out of
interest rate ceilings, and 4) further expanded the kinds of loans and
investments thrifts could make so as to allow them to become more like
commercial banks that were fairing much better in the financial turmoil of
the times than were thrifts. (FDIC)
It also allowed banks to offer interest-only, balloon-payment, and
adjustable-rate (ARM) mortgages. In addition, in the years that followed,
the Federal Reserve and the
Comptroller of the Currency (the chief
regulator of national banks) further relaxed the restrictions on the kinds
of loans banks could make and allowed the non-bank
subsidiaries of
bank holding companies to buy and sell
securities, such as
derivatives, that they had previously been
barred from holding. (FCIC)
It was thought that increasing competition in the financial sector by
allowing thrifts to become more like commercial banks, and allowing thrifts
and commercial banks greater flexibility in competing with mutual funds and
in the market for repurchase agreements, the system could be made stronger
and more efficient. All that was needed to bring this about was stable or
declining interest rates to relieve the pressure on the solvency of thrifts.
Interest rates did continue to decline as hoped, but, unfortunately, the
deregulatory provisions of these two acts in the hands of the free
marketeers of the Reagan Administration led to an unmitigated disaster.
The free-market philosophy of
Reaganomics called for less government
intervention in the market place. The idea was to get the government out of
the way and just let the market sort things out as these institutions
competed their way out of the problems they were in. The result was a
reduction in the budgets and staffs of the regulatory agencies. This led to
less examinations and regulatory supervision at these institutions at a time
when the thrift institutions were in financial difficulty and attempting to
expand their operations into new areas. (FDIC
Black)
As was noted in Chapter 1, the result was the
savings and loan crisis that began in the late
1980s—the first financial crisis to hit the United States since the Crash of
1929. In the end, some 1,300 savings institutions failed, along with 1,600
banks, a total that, ironically, was greater than the 2,800 institutions
newly chartered under the policy that led to this crisis. In addition, some
300 fraudulently run savings and loans that were nothing more than
Ponzi schemes failed at the peak of this
disaster, over a thousand individuals associated with the savings and loan
debacle were convicted of felonies, and it costs the American taxpayer
$130 billion to clean up the mess. In
addition, this financial crisis was a precursor to the
1990-1991 recession. (Black
FDIC
Krugman
Akerlof
Stewart)
The decision to deregulate the banking system in the face of the competition
from money market funds and the markets for repurchase agreements in the
early 1980s, rather than to expand the regulatory system to bring these
funds and markets under the umbrella of the existing regulatory system, had
profound effects on the financial system that went far beyond the savings
and loan crisis. In understanding these effects it is instructive to review
how financial markets are organized and to examine the kinds of financial
instruments that are traded in these markets. It is also necessary to look
at the role collateralization plays in today’s financial system.
The financial system is generally broken down into two markets: The
capital market which is concerned with
long-term financing for periods of more than a year and the
money market which is concerned with
short-term financing for periods less than a year.
The Capital Market
Stocks,
bonds, and
mortgages are sold in the capital market where
Stocks are certificates of ownership of a
corporation that give the holder a say in the management of the corporation
and a right to its equity and profits. More simply put, the stock holders
are the owners of the corporation.
A
bond is a long-term financial instrument that
defines the terms on which the issuer—a government or a corporation—agrees
to borrow money. A bond generally has 1) a face value that defines how much
the issuer (borrower) will pay the holder (lender) when the bond matures, 2)
a maturity date that defines when the issuer will pay the holder the face
value of the bond, and 3) an amount of interest and the terms, usually
quarterly or biannually, on which interest will be paid to the holder of the
bond.[34]
Bonds may or may not be backed by
collateral. If a bond is backed by collateral
it is a
collateralized bond and the bondholder has a
right to the collateral in the event the issuer defaults, that is, fails to
live up to the terms of the bond. If a bond is not backed by collateral it
is an uncollateralized bond. In the event of a bankruptcy the holder of an
uncollateralized bond has a claim against whatever is left over after the
collateralized creditors have claimed their collateral. Stock holders, being
the owners of the corporation, are entitled to whatever is left, if
anything, after all of the creditors are paid.
A
mortgage loan is essentially a collateralized
bond where the collateral is real estate owned by the issuer of the
mortgage.
The Money Market
There are a number of financial instruments—generally referred as
"paper"—that are bought and sold in the money market, the most important
being:
1. Brokered
Certificates of Deposit which are fixed term
time deposits issued by banks and sold by brokers such as
Merrill Lynch.
2.
Repurchase Agreements which are collateralized
loan agreements wherein, as was noted above, the borrower sells a security
to a lender with the understanding that the borrower will buy it back (i.e.,
repurchase it) on a specific date at a higher price, the difference in price
being the interest earned by the lender. If the borrower defaults the lender
can keep or sell the security.
3.
Commercial Paper which are promissory notes
(i.e., IOUs) issued by corporations with strong credit ratings. Commercial
Paper may or may not be collateralized. If the borrower defaults the lender
has a right to the collateral if the paper is collateralized. Otherwise the
lender is a lesser creditor in the event of bankruptcy.
4.
Bankers' Acceptances which are a promise of a
bank to pay a specified amount of money to the holder at a specified time
and are generally used in international trade as a way to guarantee payment
by a third party upon delivery;
5.
Treasury Bills which are short-term government
bonds with a maturity date less than a year.
6.
Federal Funds which are the borrowing and
lending of reserves between banks.
Before the development of markets for collateralized financial instruments,
most long-term financing was obtained in the bond market by issuing
uncollateralized bonds or through the mortgage market by obtaining a
mortgage loan directly from a bank or an insurance company. By the same
token, most short-term financing was obtained by borrowing directly from a
bank.
As a result, virtually all financing was obtained in highly regulated
markets from lenders who had a powerful incentive to examine carefully the
credit worthiness of the borrower. In the case of uncollateralized bonds and
unsecured loans, if the borrower defaulted and filed for bankruptcy the
lender would get only what was left after the secured creditors claimed
their collateral. In the case of mortgage loans, the lender would get the
property secured by the mortgage, but there were costs involved, and if the
value of the property fell the mortgagee stood to lose. In addition, the
SEC, Fed, FDIC, and state banking and insurance agencies provided stability
to these markets by overseeing them to prevent, as much as possible,
recklessness and fraud on the part of borrowers and lenders.
With the rise of collateralized financial instruments the structure of the
financial markets changed—at first gradually in the 1970s and 1980s and then
explosively in the 1990s and 2000s.
Before the development of these instruments relatively few borrowers had
access to the money market other than through a bank because lenders were
unwilling to lend in this market to any but the most credit worthy
borrowers. The reason was the lenders in this market were forced to take a
close look at the creditworthiness of the borrower before they made a loan
since they were unsecured creditors and at risk of a serious loss if the
borrower defaulted. Only banks had the kind of personal contact with their
borrowers to effectively evaluate the creditworthiness of most borrowers.
When the loan was collateralized the focus shifted from the creditworthiness
of the borrower to the quality of the collateral since the fact that the
loan was collateralized meant the potential loss to the lender in the event
of a default was reduced by the value of the collateral underlying the loan.
The development of collateralized financial instruments gave lenders a
greater feeling of confidence in making short-term loans to borrowers they
had shunned in the past because it was much easier, or so it seemed, to
evaluate the value of the collateral underlying these loans than to evaluate
the creditworthiness of a borrower that the lender did not know personally.
This allowed borrowers to have access to the short-term money market that
had never had access to this market before, and it allowed them to finance
their operations in ways not available to them before.
For example, before the development of the market for collateralized
commercial paper
finance companies had to go to the capital
market or a bank to borrow in order to relend to its customers. With the
development of the market for collateralized commercial paper these
companies had the option of setting up a company referred to as
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the specific
purpose of providing a
conduit to secure financing in the
Asset-backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) market.
They did this by selling their loan contracts to the SPV (Special
Purpose Vehicle) which, in turn, put these
assets in a trust pledged as collateral against the commercial paper issued
by SPV. The SPV's commercial paper could then be sold in the ABCP market and
the proceeds used to pay the finance company for the loan contracts. What's
more, the finance companies discovered that the shorter the term of the
collateralized commercial paper the SPV issued, the lower the interest they
had to pay. This meant they had to roll over their debt more
often—that is, issue new paper to pay off their old paper as it came due—but
they could make more money by financing their operations by going to the
money market in this way than by going to banks or the capital market.
Not only did finance companies find they could increase their profits by
financing their operations in the money market,
private investment companies—better known as
hedge funds—also found that they could
increase their profits by going to the money market as well. Before the
advent of the market for repurchase agreements, hedge funds were limited in
their investments by their owners' funds and whatever funds they could
obtain in the capital market through the sale of uncollateralized bonds and
what they could borrow from banks. With the market for repurchase agreements
they found they could fund their operations by entering into repurchase
agreements for the assets they purchased, and, in so doing, they could
borrow more than they were previously able to borrow and at lower rates of
interest—again, the shorter the term of borrowed funds, the lower the
interest they had to pay. This meant they also would have to roll over their
debt more often, but, again, they could make more money by financing their
operations this way than by going to banks or the capital market.
In addition to finance companies and hedge funds,
investment banks such as
Bear Stearns,
bank holding companies such as
Citigroup, and non financial companies such as
Enron and
Global Crossing found it profitable to create
their own conduits to the short-term money market to fund their operations.
These conduits took the form of SPVs that had two things in common with the
examples given above: The first is that they made it possible to take
advantage of the money market to secure short-term financing for long-term
assets. The second is that since SPVs are not publicly traded companies and
are not banks, they are outside the purview of the SEC and bank regulators.
This second point is particularly relevant to bank holding companies and
investment banks because they were allowed to structure their conduits in
such a way as to take their long-term assets and the mechanism by which
these assets were financed off their books and thereby avoid the scrutiny of
their regulators. It was also particularly relevant to companies like Enron
and Global Crossing and for the same reason except it was the scrutiny of
their creditors and stockholders these companies sought to avoid.
Money market funds, hedge funds, finance companies,
investment banks, bank holding companies and the SPVs that various
institutions sponsor are part of what is referred to as the Shadow Banking
System because they operate in the same way as regulated depository
institutions in that they use short-term liabilities to finance the
purchase of long-term assets, yet they fall outside the system of
depository regulation. Since these institutions were less regulated than
depository institutions, and there were no regulatory agencies that oversaw
the SPVs these and other institutions sponsor, the only limitation on the
amount of leverage shadow banks could create through their SPVs was the
margin requirement placed on them by their creditors. This requirement is
referred to as the haircut in financial circles, and it is the difference
between the value of a loan and the value of the collateral put up to secure
the loan. The margin (haircut) is generally expressed as a percentage of
the collateral: A 5% margin means that the lender is willing to loan 95% of
the value of the collateral. (Perotti)
The margin requirement limits the amount of leverage
the borrower can obtain from a loan in that, unless the borrower is able to
fund the margin through some source of unsecured credit, the only way the
margin can be financed is through the borrower's equity (i.e., net worth).
If, for example, the margin is 20% and the borrower wishes to purchase an
asset worth $100 and use that asset for collateral, the lender will only
lend $80 on the collateral underlying the loan. Since the borrower has to
come up with the other $20 of the asset’s value on his or her own in order
to make the purchase, that $20 must come out of the borrower's equity
(assuming the borrower cannot obtain unsecured credit to fund the remaining
$20 needed to make the purchase). This limits the leverage created by the
loan to 4 to 1. ($80/$20) By the same token, if the margin is 3 1/3% the
leverage of the loan will be 29 to 1. ($96.666/$3.333)
The margin requirement also determines the extent to
which the shadow banking system is able to finance the amount of money it
can borrow as a result of the amount of money it lends. This is so because
when a shadow bank purchases a security for $1,000 it is, in effect, lending
that $1,000. The margin determines the amount of that $1,000 the non-shadow
banks are willing to lend to the shadow banking system to finance the
purchase—the
smaller
the
margin,
the
larger
the
amount the non-shadow banks will be willing to lend and the larger
the amount of borrowing the shadow banking system will be able to finance as
a result of its own lending.
The process by which shadow banks increase the amount
they can borrow by increasing the amount they lend is somewhat different
than, though analogous to, the way this is accomplished by ordinary banks,
and the end result is the same. When an ordinary bank makes a loan it does
not know how much of the loan the non-bank public will return to the banking
system through an increase in deposits and how much will leave the banking
system (the margin) through an increase in currency in circulation. In
addition, there is no reason to expect that the proceeds of the loan will be
spent and redeposited in the bank that made the loan. It is most likely to
be redeposited in some other bank.
The basic difference between a shadow bank that
finances its operations in the market for repurchase agreements (or in the
Asset-backed Commercial Paper market) and an ordinary bank that makes a loan
is that the shadow bank knows the amount that will be lent back (the amount
it is able to borrow to purchase a security) when it makes the loan
(purchases a security), and this amount is lent directly back to the shadow
bank that makes the loan (purchases a security) before the loan
(security purchase) is actually made.
In order to appreciate
the way shadow banks fit into the financial system, consider a situation in
which there is a $50 billion monetary base in the economy, $40 billion of
which is held as currency in circulation and $10 billion is held as reserves
in the banking system. If the reserve requirement is 10% and there is $10
billion worth of equity in the banking system, the $10 billion worth of
reserves can be lent and redeposited in banks 10 times until there are $100
billion worth of loans and deposits in the banking system in the manner
indicated in Figure 7.1:
Figure 7.1: Loans and
Deposits in the Banking System.
In this situation, the leverage
in the Banking System that comes from Deposits will be 10 to 1
($100/ $10) and there will be $100 billion of relatively long-term Loans
financed by $100 billion worth of short-term Deposits.
Now assume a shadow banking system exists that has $10
billion worth of equity and that shadow banks are able to borrow at a 5%
margin through the use of repurchase agreements (or in the Asset-backed
Commercial Paper market). In this situation, the shadow banking system will
be able to expand the amount of money it is able to lend by purchasing $200
billion worth of Securities and financing that purchase by borrowing
$190 billion in the market for Repurchase Agreements. The result is
depicted in Figure 7.2 where it is assumed that the monetary base is
unchanged and
currency
in
circulation,
Deposits,
and
bank
Loans in Commercial Banks are unchanged as
well:
Figure 7.2: Loans,
Deposits, and Repurchase Agreements with a 5% Margin.
The
total
amount
of
long-term assets
financed
through
short-term
borrowing has increased from $100 billion to $300 billion as a result
of the additional $200 billion worth of securities financed in the market
for repurchase agreements. In addition, the leverage in the financial
system as a whole that is created by short-term financing has increased from
10 to 1 ($100/$10) to 14 to 1 ($290/ $20) as a result of the 19 to 1
($190/$10) leverage in the Shadow Banks.
What
if
the
margin is were
1/3%? Here we find that the $10 billion dollars
worth of equity in the Shadow Banks would make it
possible for $290 billion to be borrowed and $300 billion worth of
securities to be purchased by the Shadow Banks. As a result,
it would be possible for some $400 billion worth of assets to be financed by
$390 billion worth of short-term borrowing within the financial system as a
whole, and the leverage created by short-term borrowing in the financial
system as a whole has increased to 20 to 1 ($390/$20) as a result
of
the
29
to
1
($290/
$10)
leverage
of
the
Shadow Banks. This situation is shown in Figure 7.3:
Figure 7.3: Loans, Deposits, and
Repurchase Agreements with a 3 1/3% Margin.
Finally, it should be noted that if shadow banks are
able to obtain an additional $10 billion by way of unsecured credit (say,
from its sponsor in the case of an SPV), the shadow banking system will be
able to increase its borrowing by an additional $290 billion in the market
for repurchase agreements and purchase an additional $300 billion worth of
securities as a result. This situation is shown in Figure 7.4
where the total amount of loans financed through short-term borrowing and
unsecured loans by
Shadow Banks is
increased
to
$600
billion;
the
leverage
of
the
Shadow Banks
is increased to 59 to 1 ($590/$10), and
leverage in the financial system as a whole that is created by short-term
and unsecured financing will increase to 34 to 1 ($690/$20):
Figure 7.4: Loans,
Deposits, and Repurchase Agreements with a 3 1/3% Margin and $10 Billion in
Unsecured Credit.
Here we have a situation in
which a 1.7% decrease ($10/$600) in asset prices would wipe out the
aggregate net worth of the entire shadow banking system, and a 3% decrease
($20/$700) would wipe out the aggregate net worth of the entire financial
system.
At this point, the threat the shadow banks pose to the
financial system and, indeed, to the economic system as a whole should be
obvious. Shadow banks finance their operations in the same way banks
finance their operations in that they borrow short term and lend long term.
Thus, shadow banks are subject to the same kinds liquidity and solvency
problems that ordinary banks are subject to. They are also subject to the
same kinds of temptations to expand their leverage and to fund the same
kinds of speculative activities that have wrought such havoc with the
economic system throughout the history of banking.
At the same time, shadow banks function outside the
financial
regulatory
system.
Their
short-term
creditors are not insured by the FDIC. They cannot, in general,
borrow from the Federal Reserve,
and they are extremely vulnerable to the kind of irrational panic that leads
to a run. The only way they can meet the demands of their creditors in the
face of a run is by selling their assets, and if they are forced to sell
their assets in the midst of a crisis the prices of their assets are
susceptible to the same kind of downward spiral the assets of nineteenth
century banks were susceptible to—the kind of downward spiral in asset
prices that followed the Crash of 1929 and led to the implosion of the
financial system in the 1930s.
In addition, shadow banks are not constrained by the
monetary base. They have no use for currency, either in the form of vault
cash or as a deposit at the Federal Reserve, and the monetary base does not
constrain the amount of long-term lending they can finance through
short-term borrowing. As is indicated in the examples illustrated in
Figure 7.1 through Figure 7.4 above, shadow banks can expand
their lending even when reserves, deposits, and currency in circulation are
fixed. The only constraints on their lending are 1) their equity, 2)
the amount of unsecured credit they are able to obtain, and 3) the margin
imposed by their creditors on the repurchase agreements they enter into and
on the Asset-backed Commercial Paper they issue.
This would not be much of a problem if these institutions were relatively
small and played a minor role in the financial system, but, as was noted
above, and as is indicated in Figure 7.5, the growth of shadow banks
was explosive in the 1990s and 2000s. The shadow banking system was, in
fact, significantly larger than the traditional banking system by 2007 when
the financial system began to breakdown. The asset-backed commercial paper
issued by these institutions amounted to some $2.2 trillion in 2007, and the
amount of money shadow banks financed overnight with repurchase
agreements stood at $2.5 trillion. The assets held by hedge funds had grown
to $1.8 trillion, and the assets held by investment banks had grown to $4
trillion—a major portion of which was financed through repurchase
agreements. These numbers are to be compared to the total value of all of
the assets held by the entire traditional banking system in 2007 which stood
at $10 trillion. (Geithner)
As is indicated in Figure 7.5, Shadow banks held well over $12
trillion dollars worth of assets in 2007.
Source:
Financial Crisis Inquiry Report.
Far from being relatively small and playing a minor role in the financial
system in 2007, shadow banks were huge and played a major role in this
system. Shadow banks were the major borrower in the market for
repurchase agreements, and the lenders in this market were pension funds,
money market funds, mutual funds, large corporations, banks, insurance
companies, local governments, and any other large institution that had
excess cash in the bank on which it wanted to earn a return for a few days
or weeks or even just overnight. Shadow banks owed money to literally
everyone when the housing market reached its peak in 2006 and the system
began to unravel in 2007. Anyone vested in a pension plan or who owned a
mutual fund, a money market account, an insurance policy, or stock in a
large corporation or bank was owed money by shadow banks when
the run
on the system began in the summer of 2007.
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Endnotes
[34]
Notes are also traded in the capital market,
but since the only difference between a
note and a bond is that notes are shorter
term (maturing in two to ten years) while bonds are longer term
(maturing in excess of ten years) notes will not be discussed separately
here.
[35]
It should be noted reserve and capital
requirements are not the same thing, and there is no reason the two
requirements should be equal in the real world. A 10% capital
requirement means that banks must have equity equal to at least 10% of
their assets. A 10% reserve requirement means that banks must have
reserves equal to at least 10% of their deposits. Capital requirements
limit assets and are designed to enhance the solvency of banks. Reserve
requirements limit deposits (a liability) and are designed to minimize
the liquidity problem of banks. In addition, just as there are different
reserve requirements for different kinds of deposits, there are
different capital requirement for different kinds of assets.
The only reason it is assumed in this
hypothetical example (and in the examples that follow) that the reserve
and capital requirements are equal is to simplify the exposition in
order to bring out the basic principles involved. See
Feinman for a discussion of how reserve
requirements are determined. The determination of capital requirements
is explained in the
2002 Rule promulgated on November 29,
2001 by the
OCC,
FRS,
FDIC, and
OTS.