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The impact of corporate QE on liquidity: evidence from the UK

Author

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  • Boneva, Lena

    (Bank of England)

  • Elliott, David

    (Bank of England)

  • Kaminska, Iryna

    (Bank of England)

  • Linton, Oliver

    (University of Cambridge)

  • McLaren, Nick

    (Bank of England)

  • Morley, Ben

    (Bank of England)

Abstract

Quantitative easing (QE) has become a key component of the monetary policy toolkit since the global financial crisis. However substantial uncertainty remains about the impact of QE on market liquidity. Identifying the impact is particularly challenging due to the potential for reverse causality, because liquidity considerations might affect purchases. To address this challenge, we study the Bank of England’s Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme (CBPS), in which the Bank of England purchased £10 billion of sterling corporate bonds via a series of auctions over 2016 and 2017. In particular, we use granular offer-level data from the CBPS auctions to construct proxy measures for the Bank of England’s demand for bonds and auction participants’ supply of bonds, allowing us to control for any reverse causality from liquidity to purchases. Across a wide range of transaction-based liquidity measures, we find that CBPS purchases improved the liquidity of purchased bonds.

Suggested Citation

  • Boneva, Lena & Elliott, David & Kaminska, Iryna & Linton, Oliver & McLaren, Nick & Morley, Ben, 2019. "The impact of corporate QE on liquidity: evidence from the UK," Bank of England working papers 782, Bank of England, revised 23 Jul 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:boeewp:0782
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Joost Bats, 2020. "Corporates dependence on banks: The impact of ECB corporate sector purchases," Working Papers 667, DNB.
    2. Bailey, Andrew & Bridges, Jonathan & Harrison, Richard & Jones, Josh & Mankodi, Aakash, 2020. "The central bank balance sheet as a policy tool: past, present and future," Bank of England working papers 899, Bank of England.
    3. Christensen, Jens H.E. & Gillan, James M., 2022. "Does quantitative easing affect market liquidity?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Boneva, Lena & Islami, Mevlud & Schlepper, Kathi, 2021. "Liquidity in the German corporate bond market: Has the CSPP made a difference?," Discussion Papers 08/2021, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    5. D’Amico, Stefania & Kaminska, Iryna, 2019. "Credit easing versus quantitative easing: evidence from corporate and government bond purchase programs," Bank of England working papers 825, Bank of England.
    6. Patrick Aldridge & David Cimon & Rishi Vala, 2023. "Central Bank Crisis Interventions: A Review of the Recent Literature on Potential Costs," Discussion Papers 2023-30, Bank of Canada.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Quantitative easing; market liquidity; market-making; corporate bonds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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