Volume 30, Issue 3 pp. 2724-2744
RESEARCH ARTICLE

The repo market under Basel III: Effects of capital and liquidity regulations on market fragmentation

Eddie Gerba

Eddie Gerba

Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London, UK

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Petros Katsoulis

Corresponding Author

Petros Katsoulis

Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London, UK

Correspondence

Petros Katsoulis, Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AH, London, UK.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 19 September 2024
Citations: 1

[Correction added on 5 October 2024, after first online publication: Text updates throughout the body and Appendix section including the removal of appendix Table B2, and the renumbering of appendix Table B3 to B2 were made in this version.]

Abstract

Regulatory requirements can affect banks' ability and willingness to intermediate in financial markets. Yet, evidence on how these requirements interact to affect bank behaviour is thin. We contribute by assessing the effects of Basel III regulatory ratios on financial market fragmentation using the UK repo market as an important case study. Using panel regressions with proprietary data on repo transactions and holdings backed by gilts and lower-quality collateral, we find affirmative evidence of a fragmentation. The leverage ratio incentivises banks to net transactions which leads to a fragmentation across prices between netted and non-netted trades. Central bank liquidity can ease market conditions during stress and benefit banks that use it and their counterparties via reduced prices. In addition, the liquidity coverage ratio incentivises banks to increase long-term lending backed by gilts, but reduce lending backed by lower-quality collateral. This results in a fragmentation across maturities.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Research data are not shared.

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