How effective were policy measures in supporting bank lending during the Covid-19 crisis?

Research conference hosted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Committee on the Global Financial System, 10–11 May 2022 in hybrid format at the BIS headquarters in Basel, Switzerland

Many countries implemented exceptional policy measures to support bank lending during the Covid-19 crisis. Some policy measures were intended to strengthen banks' lending capacity and others to incentivise banks to use their available capacity. This conference features research studying how these policy measures affected the availability and allocation of bank credit, with the goal of informing future policy decisions.

Conference programme

13:00 - 13:20

Welcoming remarks

Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and Chair of the CGFS

13:20 - 15:20

Session 1 – Incentivising lending: evidence from Europe

Chair: Alexander Schulz (Deutsche Bundesbank and Co-Chair of the BCBS Research Group)

"Public guarantees, relationship lending and bank credit: evidence from the Covid-19 crisis"

by Gabriel Jiménez (Banco de España)
Luc Laeven (European Central Bank)
David Martínez-Miera (Universidad Carlos III)
José-Luis Peydró (ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Discussant: Ulf Lewrick (Bank for International Settlements)

"Public guarantees and credit additionality during the Covid-19 pandemic"
(paper, presentation)

by Giuseppe Cascarino (Banca d'Italia)
Raffaele Gallo (Banca d'Italia)
Francesco Palazzo (Banca d'Italia)
Enrico Sette (Banca d'Italia)
Discussant: Dennis Reinhardt (Bank of England) (presentation)

"The visible hand when revenues stop: evidence from loan and stock markets during Covid-19"
(paper, presentation)

by François Koulischer (University of Luxembourg)
Diane Pierret (University of Luxembourg)
Roberto Steri (University of Luxembourg)
Discussant: Andrea Polo (Luiss University) (presentation)

15:40 - 17:40

Session 2 – Incentivising lending: evidence from the United States

Chair: Don Morgan (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)

"Motivating banks to lend? Credit spillover effects of the Main Street Lending Program
(paper, presentation)

by Camelia Minoiu (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
Rebecca Zarutskie (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
Andrei Zlate (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
Discussant: Ursula Vogel (Deutsche Bundesbank) (presentation)

"Loan guarantees in a crisis: an antidote to a credit crunch"
(paper, presentation)

by W. Blake Marsh (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City)
Padma Sharma (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City)
Discussant: Stefano Federico (Banca d'Italia) (presentation)

"Heterogeneity in the effect of Covid-19 mortgage forbearance: evidence from large bank servicers"
(paper, presentation)

by Lan Shi (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)
Discussant: Jieying Li (Sveriges Riksbank) (presentation)

13:00 - 14:30

Session 3 – Use of banks' capital buffers

Chair: Diana Bonfim (Banco de Portugal)

"Usable, useful and used? Buffer usability during the Covid-19 crisis"

by Aakriti Mathur (Bank of England)
Matthew Naylor (Bank of England)
Aniruddha Rajan (Bank of England)
Discussant: Marco Lo Duca (European Central Bank)

"The usability of bank capital buffers and credit supply shocks at SMEs during the pandemic"
(paper, presentation)

by Jose Berrospide (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
Arun Gupta (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
Matthew Seay (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
Discussant: Esther Segalla (Central Bank of the Republic of Austria) (presentation)

14:50 - 15:20

Keynote address

Pablo Hernández de Cos, Governor of the Banco de España and Chair of the BCBS (speech)

15:20 - 16:50

Session 4 – Interaction of policies supporting bank lending

Chair: Stijn Claessens (Bank for International Settlements)

"The Covid-19 shock and firm financing: government or market? Or both?"
(paper, presentation)

by Miguel Acosta-Henao (Central Bank of Chile)
Andrés Fernández (International Monetary Fund)
Patricia Gomez-Gonzalez (Fordham University)
Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan (University of Maryland)
Discussant: Hein Bogaard (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) (presentation)

"The Great Lockdown: pandemic response policies and bank lending conditions"
(paper, presentation)

by Carlo Altavilla (European Central Bank)
Francesca Barbiero (European Central Bank)
Miguel Boucinha (European Central Bank)
Lorenzo Burlon (European Central Bank)
Discussant: Catherine Casanova (Swiss National Bank) (presentation)

17:10 - 18:30

Panel discussion – A cross-country perspective on which policies were effective in stimulating bank lending

Moderator: Linda Goldberg (Federal Reserve Bank of New York and IBRN Co-Director)

Laura Alfaro (Harvard Business School) (presentation)
Claudia Buch (Deutsche Bundesbank and IBRN Co-Director)
José De Gregorio (University of Chile) (presentation)
Soledad Martinez Peria (International Monetary Fund) (presentation)

18:30 - 18:50

Closing remarks

Olivier de Bandt (Banque de France and Co-Chair of the BCBS Research Group)