Andrei is a Group Manager at the Federal Reserve Board, in the Division of Monetary Affairs, the Section of Banking and Financial Analysis. His research areas include banking and financial institutions, international finance, and open economy macroeconomics. He has published in journals such as the Review of Financial Studies; the American Economic Journal: Macro; the Journal of International Economics; and the Journal of Monetary Economics. Andrei has been with the Federal Reserve since 2009, working as an economist in the Division of International Finance at the Federal Reserve Board; in the Department of Supervision and Regulation at the Boston Fed; and most recently in the at Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve, he completed his PhD in Economics at Boston College; a Master Degree in International Business and Economics at Copenhagen Business School; and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Economic Relations at ASE București.
Keynote Speech: Central bank policy interventions for the banking sector during financial stress
We examine the effectiveness of two policy interventions aiming to support the banking sector during recent episodes of financial stress. Each intervention was tailored to address the nature of the economic shock, i.e., the economy-wide covid shock in 2020 vs. banking sector turmoil after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023. On one hand, the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) aimed to support the flow of bank credit to firms during the pandemic, when the weaker economic outlook enhanced credit risk. In line with this objective, we find that the MSLP increased banks’ willingness to lend in 2020, as the program purchased eligible loans from banks’ books. On the other hand, the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) aimed to provide liquidity to vulnerable banks during March 2023, when banks with large exposures to interest rate risk suffered deposit outflows. We find that BTFP funding substituted for deposit outflows, especially for banks with larger security holdings, as the program offered funding to banks against the par value of Treasury securities collateral. The MSLP supported the flow of bank credit during the pandemic and the BTFP helped banks meet funding needs during
