How ‘special’ are international banks sponsoring Irish-resident SPEs?

This paper extends the literature on cross-border bank debt issuance to non-bank financial intermediation, namely special purpose entities (SPEs). Using a novel dataset for Ireland, the empirical analysis suggests that international banks sponsoring Irish-resident SPEs are financially weaker across a range of bank-level characteristics. Our findings also indicate that banks sustain higher risk profiles and achieve greater access to other debt markets after issuing cross-border debt through SPEs. This non-bank financial intermediation channel enables banks to expand their debt financing more broadly, whilst potentially amplifying the international transmission of risks.