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Full-Text Articles in Economic History

Lessons Learned: Jason Furman, Mercedes Cardona Dec 2021

Lessons Learned: Jason Furman, Mercedes Cardona

Journal of Financial Crises

Jason Furman was a top economic adviser to the successful presidential campaign of Barack Obama in 2008. He played a key role in most of President Obama’s major economic policies during and in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–09. Furman, who had served at both the Council of Economic Advisers and National Economic Council during the Clinton administration, served as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from August 2013 to January 2017, acting as President Obama’s chief economist and a member of the cabinet. He is currently Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at the …


Lessons Learned: Matthew Kabaker, Yasemin Esmen Nov 2021

Lessons Learned: Matthew Kabaker, Yasemin Esmen

Journal of Financial Crises

During the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09, Matthew Kabaker was senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Treasury deputy assistant secretary, capital markets. He helped design the Treasury’s policy response to the financial crisis; design and implement the Dodd-Frank financial reforms; and address housing finance reform, including reforms at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mr. Kabaker also served on the Treasury’s Financial Stability Policy Council and Housing Policy Council. This Lessons Learned summary is based on an interview with Mr. Kabaker.


The Us Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (Scap) And Capital Assistance Program (Cap), Aidan Lawson Nov 2021

The Us Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (Scap) And Capital Assistance Program (Cap), Aidan Lawson

Journal of Financial Crises

Due to continued stress during the Global Financial Crisis, the US Treasury released a series of additional measures in February 2009 that included a mandatory stress test for major U.S. bank holding companies (BHCs), backed by government capital. The stress test, known as the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP), tested the capital adequacy of the 19 U.S. BHCs that had more than $100 billion in assets. A large interagency team of regulators and other experts estimated losses and income under two hypothetical scenarios for the group of BHCs: a baseline that reflected the consensus belief about the course of the …


Us Capital Purchase Program, Aidan Lawson, Adam Kulam Nov 2021

Us Capital Purchase Program, Aidan Lawson, Adam Kulam

Journal of Financial Crises

During the fall of 2008, the US government was faced with a financial crisis of unprecedented scope. Having already exercised the authority to put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship in September, the stage was set for the US government to intervene more broadly in strained financial markets. This intervention would ultimately come in the form of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), which was passed on October 3, 2008. The main provision of EESA was the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, a $700 billion program initially designed to purchase troubled assets off the balance sheets …


Us Community Development Capital Initiative (Cdci), Adam Kulam Nov 2021

Us Community Development Capital Initiative (Cdci), Adam Kulam

Journal of Financial Crises

The United States Department of the Treasury responded to the Global Financial Crisis with an economy-wide stimulus package called the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Within the portion of TARP’s budget dedicated to bank investments, about $570.1 million was disbursed to community development financial institutions (CDFIs)—specifically, banks and credit unions (depositories)—in a program called the Community Development Capital Initiative (CDCI). Through the CDCI, Treasury provided capital to CDFI depositories, encouraged them to lend to small businesses, and promoted other community-oriented goals. The CDFI depositories issued either preferred shares or unsecured subordinated debentures to Treasury at low (2%) interest rates for …


Spain – Fondo De Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria (Frob) Capital Injections, Priya Sankar Nov 2021

Spain – Fondo De Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria (Frob) Capital Injections, Priya Sankar

Journal of Financial Crises

The Spanish government created the Fondo de Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria (FROB), known in English as the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) in 2009 to perform temporary capital injections that facilitated the restructuring and mergers and acquisitions of struggling institutions. The FROB used preferred shares, ordinary shares, and contingent convertible bonds to recapitalize struggling Spanish credit institutions. The FROB injected a total of €54.4 billion of capital in three rounds. FROB I in 2010 injected capital to support the mergers of 25 insolvent regional savings banks, or cajas, into seven larger, more solvent banks through the subscription of convertible preferred …


Norwegian State Finance Fund (Gfc), Natalie Leonard Nov 2021

Norwegian State Finance Fund (Gfc), Natalie Leonard

Journal of Financial Crises

Following the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008, Norway’s banking system experienced a significant liquidity squeeze. Norwegian banks had relied extensively on short-term funding from foreign funding markets and as the financial crisis evolved, foreign funding dried up. To alleviate pressure, Norwegian authorities responded with a number of emergency programs. In early 2009, the government created the State Finance Fund (SFF) to recapitalize banks. The SFF was capitalized with a NOK 50 billion ($7.07 billion) equity investment from the Finance Ministry. In total, 34 banks applied for capital injections totaling NOK 6.7 billion. By the end of 2009, six banks …


Asset Management Corporation Of Nigeria (Amcon) Capital Injection, Pascal Ungersboeck, Corey N. Runkel Nov 2021

Asset Management Corporation Of Nigeria (Amcon) Capital Injection, Pascal Ungersboeck, Corey N. Runkel

Journal of Financial Crises

Nigeria experienced the Global Financial Crisis as a dramatic decline in the price of crude oil and a burst stock market bubble. These losses were compounded by a high level of margin lending, resulting in large numbers of nonperforming loans (NPLs) for Nigerian banks. The government established the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in July 2010 to purchase NPLs and inject capital into insolvent banks. AMCON injected a total of ₦2.3 trillion (US$15.3 billion) in capital into eight different financial institutions. Five capital injections were designed to bring failing banks to zero net asset value and allow them to …


Korea: Bank Recapitalization Fund, Lily S. Engbith Nov 2021

Korea: Bank Recapitalization Fund, Lily S. Engbith

Journal of Financial Crises

Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, a number of foreign governments enacted stabilization measures to protect their domestic economies in the wake of the global credit crunch. The Bank Recapitalization Fund (the Fund), announced by the South Korean government on December 18, 2008, and implemented on February 15, 2009, was one such intervention intended to assist Korean commercial banks in strengthening their capital bases and thus restore normal lending practices between banks and nonfinancial institutions. Invoking its authority under Article 65, Section 3 (“Emergency Credit to Financial Institutions”), of Chapter IV of the Bank of Korea …


Ireland 2009 Recapitalization Program For Financial Institutions, Steven Kelly Nov 2021

Ireland 2009 Recapitalization Program For Financial Institutions, Steven Kelly

Journal of Financial Crises

At the November 2008 height of the Global Financial Crisis, Ireland’s Department of Finance announced a willingness to inject capital into the six largest banks. This announcement followed the issuance of a blanket guarantee of those banks’ liabilities in September 2008. After broadly designing the potential investments in 2008, the Irish government came to agreements with Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks in February 2009 to inject €3.5 billion ($4.5 billion) in each bank in exchange for preferred equity stakes. The government funded the investments from the funds of the National Pensions Reserve Fund, something it would secure the …


Danish Capital Injections Scheme 2009 (Dk Gfc), Priya Sankar Nov 2021

Danish Capital Injections Scheme 2009 (Dk Gfc), Priya Sankar

Journal of Financial Crises

Both the international financial system and Denmark were experiencing challenges in 2007 and 2008, and they came to a head in Denmark when Roskilde Bank experienced liquidity pressures in June 2008. As it became clear that Roskilde Bank was insolvent and no private solutions would be found, and as the global financial crisis worsened leading to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the Danish government decided to take stronger action. To ensure the short-term survival of Roskilde Bank, the national bank issued a non-limited credit facility. After it passed a deposit guarantee scheme in 2008 and established a Financial Stability Company, …


Austria: Finanzmarktstabilitätsgesetz (Finstag), Claire Simon Nov 2021

Austria: Finanzmarktstabilitätsgesetz (Finstag), Claire Simon

Journal of Financial Crises

Following the adoption of a joint framework by euro area countries in response to the intensifying financial crisis in October 2008, Austria enacted a package of measures including the Financial Market Stability Act (Finanzmarktstabilitätsgesetz, or FinStaG). In addition to permitting nationalization under certain circumstances, FinStaG allowed the Austrian government to use six specific measures to recapitalize credit institutions operating in Austria and Austrian insurance companies. According to FinStaG, €15 billion ($22 billion) could be used for this purpose, though this amount was later increased. Eight institutions received support through FinStaG, and the government granted capital and liquidity support totaling €21 …


Lessons Learned: Phillip Swagel, Yasemin Esmen Jun 2021

Lessons Learned: Phillip Swagel, Yasemin Esmen

Journal of Financial Crises

Phillip Swagel was Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Treasury between 2006 and 2009. During this time, he advised Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson as his chief economist, served as a member of the TARP Investment Committee, and played an important part in the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This “Lessons Learned” is based on a phone interview with Mr. Swagel.


Asset Management Corporation Of Nigeria (Amcon): Asset Management, Pascal Ungersboeck, Corey N. Runkel Jun 2021

Asset Management Corporation Of Nigeria (Amcon): Asset Management, Pascal Ungersboeck, Corey N. Runkel

Journal of Financial Crises

Nigeria experienced the Global Financial Crisis as a dramatic decline in the price of crude oil and a burst stock market bubble. These losses were compounded by a high level of margin lending, resulting in large numbers of nonperforming loans (NPLs) for Nigerian banks. The government established the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in July 2010 to purchase NPLs and inject capital in insolvent banks. In three purchases between December 2010 and December 2011, AMCON acquired loans with face value ₦4.02 trillion ($26.8 billion) for ₦1.76 trillion. As a result, NPLs in Nigerian banks fell from a peak of …


The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response E: The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick Jul 2020

The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response E: The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

Securitization is a process that allows banks and other lenders to package loans and sell them as bonds called asset-backed securities (ABS), removing them from their balance sheets and immediately generating cash for new loans. ABS are an important component of the financing cycle for many types of loans to households and small businesses, including mortgages. In the fall of 2008, financial markets began experiencing disturbances as the effects of the U.S. subprime market meltdown spread. The ABS market froze decreasing the volume of new loans to households and small businesses. The Federal Reserve became very concerned about the potential …


The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response D: Commercial Paper Market Facilities, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick Jul 2020

The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response D: Commercial Paper Market Facilities, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

During the summer of 2007, the U.S. residential mortgage market began to decline sharply negatively impacting the asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) market, which often relied on mortgages as underlying support. Money Market Mutual Funds (MMMFs), significant investors in commercial paper (CP), quickly retreated from the market, causing a substantial decline in outstanding ABCP. In September 2008, pressures on the markets severely escalated again, when the Reserve Primary Fund MMMF “broke the buck” and prompted run-like redemption requests by many MMMF investors. These disruptions resulted in higher rates and shorter maturities, practically freezing the market for term CP. Concerned about the …


The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response C: Providing U.S. Dollars To Foreign Central Banks, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick Jul 2020

The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response C: Providing U.S. Dollars To Foreign Central Banks, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

The financial crisis that began in late 2007 with the decline in the United States (U.S.) subprime mortgage markets quickly spread to other markets and eventually disrupted the interbank funding markets in the U.S. as well as overseas. To address the strain in the U.S. dollar (USD) funding markets, the Federal Reserve worked with foreign central banks around the world to provide USD liquidity to affected overseas markets by entering into currency swap agreements. Following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, and the resulting further destabilization of the world’s financial systems, the size and utilization of these swaps …


The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response A: Lending & Credit Programs For Depository Institutions, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick Jul 2020

The Federal Reserve’S Financial Crisis Response A: Lending & Credit Programs For Depository Institutions, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

Beginning in summer 2007, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) was called upon to address a severe disruption in the interbank lending markets sparked by a downturn in the subprime mortgage market. As these developments began to impact the ability of banks to raise adequate funding, the Fed encouraged them to utilize the Discount Window (DW), its standing facility for lending to depository institutions, and repeatedly decreased the lending rate to make the facility more accessible. Despite the Fed’s efforts, for a number of reasons, including historical perceptions of stigma, banks were reluctant to utilize the DW. In December 2007, the …


Basel Iii F: Callable Commercial Paper, Christian M. Mcnamara, Rosalind Bennett, Andrew Metrick Jan 2020

Basel Iii F: Callable Commercial Paper, Christian M. Mcnamara, Rosalind Bennett, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

One of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s responses to the global financial crisis of 2007-09 was to introduce the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR), a short-term measure that evaluates whether a bank has enough liquidity to meet expected cash outflows during a 30-day stress scenario. One area in which this incentive has already resulted in changed practices is in the market for commercial paper. Banks often provide backup liquidity facilities to the issuers of commercial paper that the issuers can draw upon to repay a maturing issue of commercial paper if they are unable to sell a new issue to …


Basel Iii B: Basel Iii Overview, Christian M. Mcnamara, Michael Wedow, Andrew Metrick Jan 2020

Basel Iii B: Basel Iii Overview, Christian M. Mcnamara, Michael Wedow, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

In the wake of the financial crisis of 2007-09, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) faced the critical task of diagnosing what went wrong and then updating regulatory standards aimed at preventing it from occurring again. In seeking to strengthen the microprudential regulation associated with the earlier Basel Accords while also adding a macroprudential overlay, Basel III consists of proposals in three main areas intended to address 1) capital reform, 2) liquidity standards, and 3) systemic risk and interconnectedness. This case considers the causes of the 2007-09 financial crisis and what they suggest about weaknesses in the Basel regime …


Ireland And Iceland In Crisis D: Similarities And Differences, Arwin G. Zeissler, Daisuke Ikeda, Andrew Metrick Nov 2019

Ireland And Iceland In Crisis D: Similarities And Differences, Arwin G. Zeissler, Daisuke Ikeda, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

On September 29, 2008—two weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers—the government of Ireland took the bold step of guaranteeing almost all liabilities of the country’s major banks. The total amount guaranteed by the government was more than double Ireland’s gross domestic product, but none of the banks were immediately nationalized. The Icelandic banking system also collapsed in 2008, just one week after the Irish government issued its comprehensive guarantee. In contrast to the Irish response, the Icelandic government did not guarantee all bank debt. Instead, the Icelandic government controversially split each of the three major banks into a new …


The Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program: A Systemwide Systemic Risk Exception, Lee Davison Aug 2019

The Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program: A Systemwide Systemic Risk Exception, Lee Davison

Journal of Financial Crises

In the fall of 2008, short-term credit markets were all but frozen, creating liquidity issues for banks and bank holding companies that could not rollover their debt at reasonable rates. Fearing that the situation would worsen if something was not done, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board invoked, and the Secretary of the Treasury approved, the use of the “systemic risk exception” (SRE) under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991, to provide unprecedented broad-based relief to struggling banks. The SRE permitted the FDIC to depart from its “least-cost” requirement when addressing failing …