Securitization Without Risk Transfer

59 Pages Posted: 10 Feb 2010 Last revised: 26 Jun 2022

See all articles by Viral V. Acharya

Viral V. Acharya

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business; New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Philipp Schnabl

New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Gustavo Suarez

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 2010

Abstract

We analyze asset-backed commercial paper conduits which played a central role in the early phase of the financial crisis of 2007-09. We document that commercial banks set up conduits to securitize assets while insuring the newly securitized assets using credit guarantees. The credit guarantees were structured to reduce bank capital requirements, while providing recourse to bank balance sheets for outside investors. Consistent with such recourse, we find that banks with more exposure to conduits had lower stock returns at the start of the financial crisis; that during the first year of the crisis, asset-backed commercial paper spreads increased and issuance fell, especially for conduits with weaker credit guarantees and riskier banks; and that losses from conduits mostly remained with banks rather than outside investors. These results suggest that banks used this form of securitization to concentrate, rather than disperse, financial risks in the banking sector while reducing their capital requirements.

Suggested Citation

Acharya, Viral V. and Acharya, Viral V. and Schnabl, Philipp and Suarez, Gustavo, Securitization Without Risk Transfer (February 2010). NBER Working Paper No. w15730, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1550599

Viral V. Acharya (Contact Author)

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business ( email )

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New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance ( email )

Stern School of Business
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Philipp Schnabl

New York University (NYU) - Department of Finance ( email )

Stern School of Business
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New York, NY 10012-1126
United States

HOME PAGE: http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sternfin/pschnabl/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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United Kingdom

Gustavo Suarez

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

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Washington, DC 20551
United States

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