Economic History Commons^™

The Hungarian Guarantee Scheme (Hungary Gfc), Alec Buchholtz

Journal of Financial Crises

In the midst of the global financial crisis, in October 2008, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), the Hungarian national bank, noticed a selloff of government securities by foreign banks and a large depreciation in the exchange rate of the Hungarian forint (HUF) in foreign exchange (FX) markets. Hungarian banks experienced liquidity pressures due to margin calls on FX swap contracts, prompting the MNB and Minister of Finance to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the World Bank. The IMF and ECB approved Hungary’s requests in late 2008 to create a €20 billion …

The Guarantee Scheme For Bank Funding In Finland (Finland Gfc), Lily Engbith

Journal of Financial Crises

As the global financial crisis raged in October 2008, its severe impact on global credit markets impelled governments to enact stabilization measures to calm and protect their domestic economies. The Republic of Finland, though not directly affected, designed preemptive interventions to mitigate disruption to its financial system. Among them was the Guarantee Scheme for Bank Funding in Finland (the Guarantee Scheme), announced on October 22, 2008, and implemented on February 12, 2009, which aimed to support banks and mortgage institutions with their short- and medium-term financing needs. Under the program, the Finnish State Treasury made up to €50 billion available …

Austria's Oesterreichische Clearingbank Ag (Oecag) (Austria Gfc), Claire Simon

Journal of Financial Crises

In October 2008, euro-area countries adopted a joint framework to guide national policies combatting the effects of the global financial crisis. In Austria, this led to the enactment of a number of measures and amendments, including the Interbank Market Support Act (Interbankmarktstärkungsgesetz, or IBSG). IBSG called for the establishment of a new clearing bank to facilitate interbank lending. It also permitted the Minister of Finance to guarantee up to €5 billion of short-term securities issued by the clearing bank and to absorb losses of the clearing bank up to €4 billion. The clearing bank, Oesterreichische Clearingbank AG (OeCAG), was owned …

Austria's Ibsg Guarantee Program (Austria Gfc), 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 Interbank Market Support Act (Interbankmarktstärkungsgesetz, "IBSG"). In addition to calling for the establishment of a new clearing bank to facilitate interbank lending, IBSG permitted the Austrian government to guarantee debt securities issued by other eligible institutions. Securities issued by eligible institutions with a maturity of three years or less (five years in exceptional circumstances) were eligible for guarantee. According to IBSG, the amount outstanding for all measures taken under the act could …

The Australian Government Guarantee Scheme For Large Deposits And Wholesale Funding (Australia Gfc), Ariel Smith

Journal of Financial Crises

The Australian Guarantee Scheme for Large Deposits and Wholesale Funding was developed in 2008 shortly after the failure of Lehman Brothers. It was designed to foster financial-system stability and confidence and to help depository institutions continue to access funding during a period of volatility. In addition to a guarantee for large deposits, the scheme allowed institutions to apply for a government guarantee for newly issued wholesale liabilities with maturities of up to five years; in return, the institutions paid the government a monthly fee based on their credit rating and the value of the debt guaranteed. The entire Guarantee Scheme …

The Debt Guarantee Program Of The Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (U.S. Gfc), Justin Katz

Journal of Financial Crises

Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September of 2008, banks faced extreme difficulty in issuing new debt and finding affordable sources of funds due to heightened fears over counterparty solvency and liquidity risk. By the end of September, the TED spread had spiked to 464 basis points, and issuance of commercial paper fell 88%. On October 14th, to boost confidence and lower short-term financing costs, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced the Debt Guarantee Program (DGP) as part of the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP). Under the DGP, the FDIC guaranteed in full a limited amount of senior unsecured …

Bank Debt Guarantee Programs, Christian M. Mcnamara, Greg Feldberg, David Tam, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

One of the hallmarks of the global financial crisis of 2007-09 was the rapid evaporation of the non-deposit, wholesale funding many financial institutions had become increasingly reliant upon in the years leading up to the crisis. In the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, governments became increasingly concerned about even fundamentally sound institutions’ ability to access necessary funding. In response, beginning in October 2008, authorities across the globe began introducing guarantee programs enabling institutions to issue debt that would be backed by a guarantee from the government in exchange for a guarantee fee. While the specific details of these programs …

Denmark's Loan Bills Temporary Credit Facility (Denmark Gfc), Keni Sabath

Journal of Financial Crises

The loan bills temporary credit facility was first implemented in May 2008, before the Global Financial Crisis had truly hit Denmark. It continued to be utilized as part of a broader effort to increase interbank lending after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The objective of the loan bills scheme was to facilitate lending among financial institutions. Each week, loan bills could be pledged as collateral for a seven-day loan from Denmark’s central bank, Danmarks Nationalbank. One banking institution could borrow from another institution by issuing a loan bill, and the institution buying the bill could raise liquidity …

Denmark's Excess-Capital Temporary Credit Facility (Denmark Gfc), Keni Sabath

Journal of Financial Crises

During the interbank market freeze following the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008, Denmark’s central bank, Danmarks Nationalbank, used a series of unconventional monetary policy instruments to increase market liquidity. One such action included the introduction of the excess-capital temporary credit facility, also known as the solvency scheme. Under this facility, credit lines from Danmarks Nationalbank could be provided to banks and mortgage-credit institutions on the basis of their excess capital adequacy, calculated as the difference between their base capital and their capital need. The purpose of this facility was to ease the tight liquidity situation by providing access to …

The United Kingdom's Corporate Bond Secondary Market Scheme (U.K. Gfc), Claire Simon

Journal of Financial Crises

In late 2008, at the height of the Global Financial Crisis, increased liquidity premia and risk aversion in the secondary market hindered companies’ ability to issue corporate bonds. In response, in January 2009, Her Majesty’s Treasury authorized the Bank of England to establish a facility to purchase commercial bonds through the Asset Purchase Facility. In March 2009, the Bank of England published details on the Corporate Bond Secondary Market Scheme, in conjunction with its quantitative easing program. Under the scheme, the Bank acted as a market maker of last resort in the secondary bond market, making regular purchases of a …

Japan's Special Funds-Supplying Operations (Japan Gfc), Alec Buchholtz

Journal of Financial Crises

Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the global commercial paper (CP) market began to tighten as interest rates rose and investors sought more-liquid money market securities. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) introduced several measures in late 2008 to make liquidity available to nonfinancial corporations that were strapped for cash. In December 2008, the BOJ implemented special funds-supplying operations in order to provide unlimited liquidity to banks and other financial institutions so they could continue to fund nonfinancial corporations. The BOJ would provide one- to three-month loans against an equal value of eligible corporate debt at a rate …

Japan's Outright Purchases Of Commercial Paper (Japan Gfc), Alec Buchholtz

Journal of Financial Crises

Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the global commercial paper (CP) market began to tighten as interest rates rose and investors sought more-liquid money market securities. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) introduced several operations in late 2008 to promote liquidity in the CP market. In January 2009, the BOJ began to purchase CP and asset-backed CP outright from banks and other financial institutions. The BOJ could purchase up to ¥3 trillion of CP with a residual maturity of up to three months, among other short-term securities, via 10 purchases of up to ¥300 billion each. The BOJ …

The European Central Bank's Covered Bond Purchase Programs I And Ii (Ecb Gfc), Ariel Smith

Journal of Financial Crises

In July 2009, the European Central Bank introduced a nonstandard measure to revitalize the European covered bond market, which at the time financed about one-fifth of mortgages in Europe. The market struggled after the collapse of Lehman Brothers as the global financial crisis intensified in 2008. Over the course of the program, which lasted 12 months, European central banks, collectively known as “the Eurosystem,” conducted direct purchases in both primary and secondary markets to a total of €60 billion of covered bonds. The Eurosystem held the purchased covered bonds until maturity and made them eligible for lending to counterparties as …

The European Central Bank's Securities Markets Programme (Ecb Gfc), Ariel Smith

Journal of Financial Crises

The Eurozone struggled during the escalation of the sovereign debt crisis in 2010. In order to aid malfunctioning securities markets, restore liquidity, and enable proper functioning of the monetary policy transmission mechanism, the European Central Bank (ECB) instituted the Securities Markets Programme (SMP) on May 9, 2010. This program enabled Eurosystem central banks to purchase securities from entities in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, and Spain. The program ended on September 6, 2012, and evaluations of its effectiveness are mixed.

The European Central Bank's Three-Year Long-Term Refinancing Operations (Ecb Gfc), Aidan Lawson

Journal of Financial Crises

The announcement of the three-year Long-Term Refinancing Operations (LTROs) by the European Central Bank (ECB) on December 8, 2011, signaled the beginning of the largest ECB market liquidity programs to date. Continued and increasing liquidity-related pressures in the form of ballooning financial market credit default swap (CDS) spreads, Euro-area volatility, and interbank lending rates prompted a much more forceful ECB response than what had been done previously. The LTROs, using a repurchase (repo) agreement auction mechanism, allowed any Eurozone financial institution to tap essentially unlimited funding at a fixed rate of just 1%. Because the three-year LTROs were so similar …

The Public-Private Investment Program: The Legacy Securities Program (U.S. Gfc), Ben Henken

Journal of Financial Crises

On March 23, 2009, the U.S. Treasury, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), announced the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP). PPIP consisted of two complementary programs designed to foster liquidity in the market for certain mortgage-related assets: The Legacy Loans Program and the Legacy Securities Program. This case study discusses the design and implementation of the Legacy Securities Program. Under this program, the Treasury formed an investment partnership with nine private sector firms it selected at the conclusion of a months-long application process. Using a combination of private equity and debt and equity …

The Public-Private Investment Program: The Legacy Loans Program (U.S. Gfc), Ben Henken

Journal of Financial Crises

On March 23, 2009, the U.S. Treasury, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), announced the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP). PPIP consisted of two complementary programs designed to foster liquidity in the market for certain mortgage-related assets: The Legacy Loans Program and the Legacy Securities Program. This case study discusses the design and implementation of the Legacy Loans Program. Under this program, the FDIC and Treasury attempted to create public-private investment partnerships that—using a combination of private equity, Treasury equity, and FDIC-guaranteed debt—would purchase legacy mortgage loans from U.S. banks by way of …

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (Talf) (U.S. Gfc), June Rhee

Journal of Financial Crises

In the fall of 2008, the securitization market, which was the major provider of credit for consumers and small businesses, came to a near halt. Investors in this market abandoned not only the residential mortgage-backed securities that triggered the financial crisis but also consumer and business asset-backed securities (ABS), which had a long track record of strong performance, and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Also, the unprecedented widening of spreads for these securities rendered new issuance uneconomical, and the shutdown of the securitization market threatened to exacerbate the downturn in the economy.

On November 25, 2008, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) …

The Money Market Investor Funding Facility (U.S. Gfc), Rosalind Z. Wiggins

Journal of Financial Crises

In mid-September 2008, money market mutual funds (MMMFs) began to experience run-like redemption requests after the Reserve Primary Fund “broke the buck.” As a result, MMMFs became reluctant to roll over or invest in commercial paper (CP) and faced the prospect of selling asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) they held into a declining market to raise cash. The money markets quickly became negatively impacted, and on October 21, 2008, the Fed announced the Money Market Investor Funding Facility (MMIFF), which would loan funds to a series of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) established by the private sector. The SPVs would use the …

The Commercial Paper Funding Facility (U.S. Gfc), Rosalind Z. Wiggins

Journal of Financial Crises

In mid-September 2008, prime money market mutual funds (MMMFs) began experiencing run-like redemption requests sparked by one fund that had “broken the buck” because of large exposure to Lehman Brothers commercial paper (CP). As a result, MMMFs, which are significant investors in CP, became reluctant to hold CP. Within a week, outstanding CP had been reduced by roughly $300 billion. The CP market experienced severe shortening of maturities and increased rates, making it difficult for issuers to place new paper. When government efforts to assist the MMMFs did not resolve the stresses in the CP market, the Federal Reserve announced, …