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March/April 2003, 
Vol. 85, No. 2
Posted 2003-03-01

On the Pervasive Effects of Federal Reserve Settlement Regulations

by Ken B. Cyree, Mark D. Griffiths, and Drew B. Winters

The authors examine whether Federal Reserve settlement effects have also appeared in the overnight London interbank offer rate (LIBOR) since the Federal Reserve removed the reserve requirements on Eurocurrency liabilities. They first explain why this is an important issue and describe the characteristics of these settlement effects. The primary reason to examine this change in reserve requirements is to determine the reach of U.S. Federal Reserve regulatory changes. A regular pattern or effect in LIBOR created by a Federal Reserve rule change would show that the impact of Fed regulations is not limited to the national boundaries of the United States. Finding a settlement effect in LIBOR also would show that the mechanics of one market can spill over into other markets thought to be independent. Next, the authors test for settlement effects. Their results suggest the following: Overnight money markets are global and the micromechanics of one market can spillover into another market and, in this case, carry the effects of Federal Reserve settlement rules into off-shore markets. That is, they that changes in Fed policy allowing Eurocurrency liabilities to be a substitute funding source in the settlement process results in LIBOR being affected by the Fed’s bank settlement procedures.