Measuring the impact of a bank failure on the real economy. An EU-wide analytical framework

We present an analytical framework for quantifying the potential impact on the real economy stemming from a bank’s sudden liquidation, focusing on the consequences that arise when a credit institution interrupts its lending activities. In a first step, we quantify the potential credit shortfall faced by firms and households due to the sudden liquidation of a bank. In a second step, we estimate the impact of a firm’s credit shortfall on real outcomes via both a Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregression (FAVAR) model and a micro-econometric model. Appropriate reference values (benchmarks) are provided to assess the estimated outcomes. The illustrative results show that this harmonized approach is feasible across the Banking Union and it is applicable to banks of heterogeneous size and significance. Particularly in the case of the medium-sized banks, the implementation of this common analytical framework could provide useful insights to reduce the uncertainty about whether resolution is in the public interest, i.e. to what extent the failure of an institution would endanger financial stability.