Abstract
This paper studies the relationship between money market funds
(MMFs) and bank liquidity risk in China. Based on the unique feature of
"liquidity stratification" in China, the paper proposes a model of
interbank market that includes big banks, small banks, and MMFs. The model
drives that the emergence of MMFs pushes up the interbank liability ratio of
the banking system and raises the bank liquidity risk. Using unbalanced
bank-level panel data from China for the period from 2014 to 2021, we find that
the empirical results are consistent with the theory. It is shown that the
expansion of MMFs significantly elevates the bank liquidity risk in general,
but this effect varies significantly by bank type, bank size, and different
capital adequacy ratio. Moreover, the interbank liability channel plays an
important mediating transmission role in the process of MMFs affecting bank
liquidity risk.
Keywords: Money market
funds, Bank liquidity risk, Interbank liability channel.