Stress Relief? Funding Structures and Resilience to the Covid Shock

Abstract: How did funding structures—the source, instrument, currency, and counterparty location of financing—relate to the financial stress experienced in different countries and sectors during Covid-19? Banks and corporates with a higher share of funding from non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) or in US dollars experienced significantly greater stress, while more funding in debt instruments (versus loans) or cross-border (versus domestically) did not affect resilience. Policies targeting these structural vulnerabilities (US$ swap lines and NBFI policies) were more effective at mitigating stress than policies supporting banks, even controlling for macroeconomic policies. Macroprudential regulations should prioritize exposures to NBFI and dollar funding.