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Why Banks Should Keep Secrets

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  • Todd R. Kaplan

Abstract

I present an example showing it is sometimes efficient for a bank to commit to a policy that keeps information about its risky assets private. Current practices in banking result in bankers having private information: demand deposits are non-contingent contracts, there are time lags before the public has access to updated balance sheets, and certain items on a bank's balance sheet are marked at book-value rather than market-value. The Savings & Loan failures in the 1980's have led to an increase in banking legislation such as the FIRREA of 1989 and the FDICIA of 1991. These laws affect the release of information about a bank's assets by creating a minimum capital requirement, imposing a new examination standard for banks' assets, and implementing a risk-based insurance scheme.

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  • Todd R. Kaplan, "undated". "Why Banks Should Keep Secrets," Working papers _005, University of Minnesota, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:minnec:_005
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    File URL: http://www.econ.umn.edu/~todd/risky.ps
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Romans Pancs, 2015. "Efficient dark markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 59(3), pages 605-624, August.
    2. Stenzel, A. & Wagner, W.B., 2013. "Asset Opacity and Liquidity," Other publications TiSEM 36533529-29b8-4e85-9abd-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Dieter Balkenborg & Todd Kaplan & Timothy Miller, 2011. "Teaching Bank Runs with Classroom Experiments," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 224-242, July.
    4. David Andolfatto & Fernando Martin, 2013. "Information Disclosure and Exchange Media," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(3), pages 527-539, July.
    5. Stenzel, André, 2018. "Security design with interim public information," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 113-130.
    6. Jungherr, Joachim, 2018. "Bank opacity and financial crises," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 157-176.
    7. Ryuichiro Izumi, 2021. "Opacity: Insurance and Fragility," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 146-169, April.
    8. Jeremy Bertomeu & Davide Cianciaruso, 2018. "Verifiable disclosure," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(4), pages 1011-1044, June.
    9. André Stenzel & Wolf Wagner, 2022. "Opacity, liquidity and disclosure requirements," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5-6), pages 658-689, May.
    10. Todd Kaplan, 2012. "Communication of preferences in contests for contracts," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 51(2), pages 487-503, October.
    11. Chakravarty, Surajeet & Choo, Lawrence & Fonseca, Miguel A. & Kaplan, Todd R., 2021. "Should regulators always be transparent? a bank run experiment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    12. Chakravarty, Surajeet & Fonseca, Miguel A. & Kaplan, Todd R., 2014. "An experiment on the causes of bank run contagions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 39-51.
    13. Frank Gigler & Thomas Hemmer, 2008. "On the welfare effects of allowing unlimited renegotiation in agency relationships," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 37(2), pages 243-265, November.
    14. Wagner, Wolf & Uras, Burak, 2017. "Efficient Lemons," CEPR Discussion Papers 11803, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Timmermann, Allan & Schmidt, Lawrence & , & Wermers, Russ, 2017. "Transparency, Investor Information Acquisition, and Money Market Fund Risk Rebalancing during the 2011-12 Eurozone Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 11895, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Karlo Kauko, 2016. "Does Opaqueness Make Equity Capital Expensive for Banks?," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, vol. 17(2), pages 203-227, February.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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