Stress Testing of Liquidity Maturity Transformation Risk in Banks

Abstract

One of the main causes of the past crisis was the inability of financial institutions to acquire funding at appropriate costs. The importance of applying a good liquidity risk measurement system becomes apparent. The present paper provides an approach to the measurement of liquidity maturity transformation risk within a stress testing framework, for middle-sized banks. The costs of liquidity arising due to a downturn in refinancing conditions are calculated by using modern risk measures. The forward-looking way is based on a liquidity gap report, where the consideration of the counterbalancing capacity enables to gain an insight into the real liquidity needs. The measurement of both, the portfolio-value in the respective time bucket and liquidity costs, is possible. Applying the expected shortfall can easily be included into the calculation. The results show that by using historical simulation, if no sufficient data are available, expected shortfall delivers an approximate value. Still, it can serve as an indicator of insurance against extreme events. The present approach combines a scenario-based view to a possible distress with a quantitative risk measurement. Therewith, it contributes to the bank’s wide stress testing as required by the regulatory authorities.