The transmission of bank liquidity shocks: Evidence from the Eurosystem collateral framework

How does a shock to the liquidity of bank assets affect credit supply, cross-border lending, and real activity at the firm level? We exploit that, in 2007, the European Central Bank replaced national collateral frameworks by a single list. This collateral framework shock added loans to non-domestic euro area firms to the pool of eligible assets. Using loan level data, we show that banks holding a large share of newly eligible cross-border loans increase loan supply by 14% and reduce spreads by 16 basis points, compared to banks with smaller holdings of such loans. The additional credit is mainly extended to (previously eligible) domestic borrowers, suggesting only a limited cross-border effect of the collateral framework shock. However, the shock had real effects: firms highly exposed to affected banks increase their total debt, employment, and investment.