COVID-19 and the Stability of the Financial System

A special issue of International Journal of Financial Studies (ISSN 2227-7072).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (27 August 2021) | Viewed by 102751

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an unprecedented human, health, and economic crisis. There is great uncertainty about its severity and duration. International reports clearly show that the financial system has received a substantial negative impact, and any further intensification of the crisis could affect global financial stability.

International prices of risk assets have fallen sharply, while credit spreads have jumped, especially for lower-rated firms. Moreover, signs of stress have also emerged in major short-term funding markets, including the global market for U.S. dollars. As a result, market liquidity has deteriorated significantly, leading to massive and unexpected asset price moves. As a result, central banks across the globe have been the first line of defense, significantly easing monetary policy through reduced policy rates, providing additional liquidity to the financial system, and reactivating programs used during the global financial crisis (e.g., QE programs).

The global spread of COVID-19 may require the imposition of tougher and longer- lasting containment measures, which could result in more severe and prolonged downturns. This will expose financial vulnerabilities that have built in recent years in the environment of extremely low interest rates, leading to the exacerbation of the COVID-19 shock. Central banks will remain crucial to safeguarding the stability of global financial markets and maintaining the flow of credit to the economy. In a coordinated fashion, monetary, fiscal, and financial policies should aim to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 shock and to ensure a steady, sustainable recovery.

This Special Issue invites researchers to submit their work across all dimensions of the financial system to recommend ideas and solutions for the post-COVID-19 era.

Prof. Dr. Nicholas Apergis
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • asset markets
  • equity markets
  • commodity markets
  • monetary policy
  • banking sector
  • bond markets
  • currency markets
  • derivatives markets
  • real estate markets
  • covered bonds

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1162 KiB  
Article
Consequences of COVID-19 on Banking Sector Index: Artificial Neural Network Model
by Hamzeh F. Assous and Dania Al-Najjar
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2021, 9(4), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs9040067 - 3 Dec 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 87382
Abstract
The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. In this study, we examine the effect of COVID-19 indicators and policy response on the Saudi banking index. COVID-19 variables that were applied are: new confirmed and fatal COVID-19 [...] Read more.
The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. In this study, we examine the effect of COVID-19 indicators and policy response on the Saudi banking index. COVID-19 variables that were applied are: new confirmed and fatal COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia; lockdowns; first and second decreases in interest rates; regulations, and oil prices. We implemented the analysis by running a stepwise regression analysis then building an artificial neural network (ANN) model. According to regression findings, oil prices and new confirmed cases have had a significant positive effect on the Saudi banking index. Nevertheless, the lockdown announcements in Saudi Arabia and the first decrease in interest rates had a significant negative effect on the Saudi banking index. To enhance the performance of the linear regression model, the ANN model was built. Findings showed that the ranking of the variables in terms of their importance is: oil price, number of confirmed cases, lockdown announcements, decrease in interest rates, and lastly, regulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19 and the Stability of the Financial System)
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18 pages, 4406 KiB  
Article
Do Green Bonds Act as a Hedge or a Safe Haven against Economic Policy Uncertainty? Evidence from the USA and China
by Inzamam Ul Haq, Supat Chupradit and Chunhui Huo
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2021, 9(3), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs9030040 - 1 Aug 2021
Cited by 57 | Viewed by 6511
Abstract
Economic policy uncertainty and particularly COVID-19 has stimulated the need to investigate alternative avenues for policy risk management. In this context, this study examines the dynamic association among economic policy uncertainty, green bonds, clean energy stocks, and global rare earth elements. A dynamic [...] Read more.
Economic policy uncertainty and particularly COVID-19 has stimulated the need to investigate alternative avenues for policy risk management. In this context, this study examines the dynamic association among economic policy uncertainty, green bonds, clean energy stocks, and global rare earth elements. A dynamic conditional correlation-multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (DCC-MGARCH) model was used to gauge the time-varying co-movements among these indices. The analysis finds that green bonds act more as a hedge than a safe haven against economic policy uncertainty (EPU). In the case of diversification, green bonds work as diversifiers with clean energy stocks and rare earth elements during COVID-19 and in the whole sample period. Additionally, clean energy stocks and rare earth elements show safe haven properties against EPUs. This study contributes to the hedging and safe haven literature with some new insight considering the role of green bonds and clean energy stocks. Additionally, the outcomes of the research contribute toward the literature of portfolio diversification theory. These findings pave the way for not only US investors to hedge long-term economic policy risk by investing in green bonds, but also for China and the UK, as these financial assets (green bonds, clean energy stocks, and rare earth metals) and EPU are long-term financial and economic variables. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19 and the Stability of the Financial System)
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19 pages, 5102 KiB  
Article
Intraday Volatility Spillovers among European Financial Markets during COVID-19
by Faheem Aslam, Paulo Ferreira, Khurrum Shahzad Mughal and Beenish Bashir
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2021, 9(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs9010005 - 5 Jan 2021
Cited by 53 | Viewed by 7026
Abstract
During crises, stock market volatility generally rises sharply, and as consequence, spillovers are identified across markets. This study estimates the volatility spillover among twelve European stock markets representing all four regions of Europe. The data consists of 10,990 intraday observations from 2 December [...] Read more.
During crises, stock market volatility generally rises sharply, and as consequence, spillovers are identified across markets. This study estimates the volatility spillover among twelve European stock markets representing all four regions of Europe. The data consists of 10,990 intraday observations from 2 December 2019 to 29 May 2020. Using the methodology of Diebold and Yilmaz, we use static and rolling windows to characterize five-minute volatility spillovers. Our results show that 77.80% of intraday volatility forecast error variance in twelve European markets comes from spillovers. Furthermore, the highest gross directional volatility spillovers are found in Sweden and the Netherlands, while the minimum spillovers to other stock markets are observed in the stock markets of Poland and Ireland. However, German and Dutch markets transmit the highest net directional volatility spillovers. Splitting the whole sample in pre- and post-pandemic declaration (11 March 2020) we find more stable spillovers in the latter. The findings reveal important information about European stock market interdependence during COVID-19, which will be beneficial to both policy-makers and practitioners. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19 and the Stability of the Financial System)
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