Events

Dr. Andreas Schrimpf
Head of Financial Markets
Monetary and Economic Department
Bank for International Settlements

We estimate the impact of banks’ cross-currency lending on exchange rates to shed light on the importance of flows as a major force affecting FX market outcomes. When non-US banks extend more loans in US dollars (USD) relative to US banks originating foreign currency-denominated loans, the USD appreciates significantly. When a foreign bank grants a cross-currency USD loan, it needs to obtain USD liquidity which puts pressure on funding markets and leads to an appreciation of USD. This effect – which we estimate via a granular instrumental variable approach – has greatly intensified since the global financial crisis and crucially depends on how banks fund the provision of cross-currency loans. In line with this mechanism, we show that cross-currency lending also affects the FX swap market (and deviations from covered interest parity), as well as other segments of the US short-term funding market.