The importance of interbank rate quotations is enormous from the aspect of pricing loans, deposits, and financial instruments, and in general for the efficiency of resource allocation mechanisms in the economy. Consequently, it is crucial to ensure that interest rate quotations are defined in a...

Despite near-zero interest rates set by large central banks and other steps towards monetary easing in recent years, the economic environment has been characterised by low inflation globally and deflationary fears in some regions, while real economic activity has remained moderate. Although...

This study focuses on the elements of short-dated forward yields in Hungary and other emerging market economies – short-rate expectations and the term premium – and the influences on their behaviour. The rate expectations are proxied by median values of analyst surveys. Principal components...

In Hungary in the pre-crisis period the bank sector initiated private credit boom significantly contributed to the accumulation of economic imbalances. Nevertheless, before the 2008 crisis no special regulatory measure was taken to mitigate the FX lending to unhedged borrowers, which was one of...

This paper provides an overview of the antecedents, main drivers and spillover mechanisms of the turbulence emanating from the US sub-prime credit market in the summer of 2007. Its primary goal is to discuss the facts and interrelationships featured in the various analyses and statistics in a...

The last few years were characterised by high risk appetite and global spreading of a substantial amount of under-priced risks as a consequence of bank’ securitisation activities. The turbulence triggered by the US mortgage market led to the re-pricing of risks, which in turn has resulted in...

This paper investigates the degree of bank competition in Hungary on various submarkets. An overview of stylised facts on the market structure, pricing behaviour and entry barriers suggests that the degree of competition may be rather different in the individual submarkets. Looking at the...

Credit to the private sector has been growing very rapidly in a number of Central and Eastern European countries in recent years. The main question is whether this dynamics is an equilibrium convergence process or may rather pose stability risks. Using panel econometric techniques, this paper...

In this paper we analyze the degree of competition in the Hungarian household credit and deposit markets. We estimate discrete-choice, multinomial logit deposit service and loan demand functions for each bank and calculate the corresponding price elasticities. Two models of the banking industry...

In addition to aspects related to financial stability, the cost efficiency gap observed between the banking systems of the old and the new EU member states is also unfavourable from a welfare point of view. In the majority of new member states, banks are likely to price the relatively high rate...