IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbfina/v136y2022ics0378426622000140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shrouding and the FX trades of global custody bank

Author

Listed:
  • Osler, Carol
  • Savaser, Tanseli

Abstract

This paper identifies a new approach to shrouding, the practice of hiding supra-competitive product prices, and sheds light on an extraordinarily opaque and hitherto unexplored segment of the world's largest OTC market. The product is liquidity for FX transactions between global custody banks and their client funds, transactions in which the clients are not actively involved and cannot identify execution costs ex post. We develop a stylized model of shrouding that predicts FX dealers will shift among three pricing strategies over time within individual client relationships. We conduct an extensive econometric analysis of the complete FX trading record of a mid-sized global custody bank over one calendar year. The data provide support for all ten of the shrouding model's testable hypotheses.

Suggested Citation

  • Osler, Carol & Savaser, Tanseli, 2022. "Shrouding and the FX trades of global custody bank," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:136:y:2022:i:c:s0378426622000140
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106414
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426622000140
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106414?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bjonnes, Geir Hoidal & Rime, Dagfinn, 2005. "Dealer behavior and trading systems in foreign exchange markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 571-605, March.
    2. Darrell Duffie, 2012. "Over-The-Counter Markets," Introductory Chapters, in: Dark Markets: Asset Pricing and Information Transmission in Over-the-Counter Markets, Princeton University Press.
    3. Richard C. Green & Burton Hollifield & Norman Schürhoff, 2007. "Financial Intermediation and the Costs of Trading in an Opaque Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(2), pages 275-314.
    4. Xavier Gabaix & David Laibson, 2018. "Shrouded attributes, consumer myopia and information suppression in competitive markets," Chapters, in: Victor J. Tremblay & Elizabeth Schroeder & Carol Horton Tremblay (ed.), Handbook of Behavioral Industrial Organization, chapter 3, pages 40-74, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Ho, Thomas & Stoll, Hans R., 1981. "Optimal dealer pricing under transactions and return uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 47-73, March.
    6. Henderson, Brian J. & Pearson, Neil D., 2011. "The dark side of financial innovation: A case study of the pricing of a retail financial product," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 227-247, May.
    7. Carlin, Bruce I., 2009. "Strategic price complexity in retail financial markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 278-287, March.
    8. Guala, Francesco & Mittone, Luigi, 2010. "Paradigmatic experiments: The Dictator Game," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 578-584, October.
    9. Tarun Ramadorai, 2008. "What determines transaction costs in foreign exchange markets?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 14-25.
    10. Schmiedel, Heiko & Malkamaki, Markku & Tarkka, Juha, 2006. "Economies of scale and technological development in securities depository and settlement systems," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1783-1806, June.
    11. Geir H. Bjønnes & Carol L. Osler & Dagfinn Rime, 2021. "Price discovery in two‐tier markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 3109-3133, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Osler, Carol L. & Mende, Alexander & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2011. "Price discovery in currency markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1696-1718.
    2. Nicholas Wilson, 2011. "Fertility Responses to Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV," Department of Economics Working Papers 2011-11, Department of Economics, Williams College, revised Sep 2011.
    3. Hasbrouck, Joel & Levich, Richard M., 2021. "Network structure and pricing in the FX market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 705-729.
    4. Carol Osler & Thang Nguyen & Tanseli Savaser, 2011. "Asymmetric Information and the Foreign-Exchange Trades of Global Custody Banks," Department of Economics Working Papers 2011-09, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    5. Thorp, S. & Bateman, H. & Dobrescu, L.I. & Newell, B.R. & Ortmann, A., 2020. "Flicking the switch: Simplifying disclosure to improve retirement plan choices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Mark Egan & Gregor Matvos & Amit Seru, 2019. "The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 233-295.
    7. Carol Osler & Xuhang Wang, 2012. "The Microstructure of Currency Markets," Working Papers 49, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    8. Baller, Stefanie & Entrop, Oliver & Schober, Alexander & Wilkens, Marco, 2017. "What drives performance in the speculative market of short-term exchange-traded retail products?," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Betriebswirtschaftliche Reihe B-26-17, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    9. Milo Bianchi & Philippe Jehiel, 2019. "Bundling, Belief Dispersion, and Mispricing in Financial Markets," Working Papers halshs-02183306, HAL.
    10. Li, Xindan & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar & Yang, Xuewei, 2018. "Can financial innovation succeed by catering to behavioral preferences? Evidence from a callable options market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 38-65.
    11. Vokata, Petra, 2021. "Engineering lemons," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 737-755.
    12. Carol Osler & Geir Bjonnes & Neophytos Kathitziotis, 2016. "Bid-Ask Spreads in OTC Markets," Working Papers 102, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    13. Yiquan Gu & Tobias Wenzel, 2014. "Strategic Obfuscation and Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 632-660, December.
    14. Mattia Landoni & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2020. "Should the Government be Paying Investment Fees on $3 Trillion of Tax-Deferred Retirement Assets?," NBER Working Papers 26700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Batten, Jonathan A. & Lončarski, Igor & Szilagyi, Peter G., 2021. "Strategic insider trading in foreign exchange markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    16. Basu, Anup K. & Dulleck, Uwe, 2020. "Why do (some) consumers purchase complex financial products? An experimental study on investment in hybrid securities," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 203-220.
    17. Baller, Stefanie & Entrop, Oliver & McKenzie, Michael & Wilkens, Marco, 2016. "Market makers’ optimal price-setting policy for exchange-traded certificates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 206-226.
    18. Gabaix, Xavier & Laibson, David & Li, Deyuan & Li, Hongyi & Resnick, Sidney & de Vries, Casper G., 2016. "The impact of competition on prices with numerous firms," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-24.
    19. Reitz, Stefan & Schmidt, Markus & Taylor, Mark P., 2009. "Financial Intermediation and the Role of Price Discrimination in a Two-Tier Market," MPRA Paper 15602, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Henderson, Brian J. & Pearson, Neil D. & Wang, Li, 2020. "Pre-trade hedging: Evidence from the issuance of retail structured products," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 108-128.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign exchange; FX; Shroud; Bid-ask spread; Custody; Bank; Dealer; Misconduct;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:136:y:2022:i:c:s0378426622000140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbf .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.