"Whatever it takes": an empirical assessment of the value of policy actions in banking

What types of policy intervention had a greater impact during the financial crisis? By using a detailed dataset of worldwide policy, we answer this question focusing on Globally-Systemically Important banks (G-SIBs), looking both to stock returns and Credit Default Swap (CDS) spreads reactions. As robustness checks, we also analyze a control sample of 31 large Non-Financial Companies (NFCs). Overall, we show that different policy interventions from governments and central banks have produced diverse market reactions: investors generally appreciate monetary policy interventions for G-SIBs (but not for NFCs) and do not welcome bank failures and bailouts (for both G-SIBs and NCFs).

Accepted version: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Review of Finance following peer review. The version of record Franco Fiordelisi, Ornella Ricci, “Whatever it takes”: An Empirical Assessment of the Value of Policy Actions in Banking, Review of Finance, Volume 20, Issue 6, October 2016, Pages 2321–2347, is available online at: DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfv053 and on the OUP website https://academic.oup.com/rof/article-abstract/20/6/2321/2418136