This paper examines the association between bank liquidity hoarding (BLH) and the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a sample of U.S. banks and applying fixed effect estimators, we reveal that banks rack up liquidity assets and liabilities when the pandemic escalates. Our finding holds with alternative BLH and COVID-19 proxies and is further validated by a falsification test. Additional analysis reveals that BLH improves bank stability by reducing earnings volatility, non-performing loans and the propensity to go bankrupt. This study supports the existing literature on BLH and economic adversities and expands our understanding of BLH during the COVID-19 pandemic.

本文探讨了银行流动性囤积 (BLH) 与 COVID-19 大流行之间的关联。通过使用美国银行样本并应用固定效应估计量，我们发现，当疫情升级时，银行会积累流动性资产和负债。我们的发现适用于替代 BLH 和 COVID-19 代理，并通过证伪测试进一步验证。进一步的分析表明，BLH 通过减少盈利波动、不良贷款和破产倾向来提高银行稳定性。这项研究支持了有关 BLH 和经济逆境的现有文献，并扩大了我们对 COVID-19 大流行期间 BLH 的理解。