Alligators in the Swamp: The Impact of Derivatives on the Financial Performance of Depository Institutions
研究利率衍生品是否增加存款机构风险，发现衍生品使用与风险负相关，且使用衍生品的储蓄贷款协会固定利率抵押贷款组合增长更快。
It has been argued that underpriced federal deposit insurance provides incentive for insured institutions to increase the value of shareholder equity by expanding into activities that shift risk onto the deposit insurer. Derivative instruments have been used by firms to change their risk exposure. Permitting firms with substantial moral hazard incentives to utilize interest-rate derivative instruments could lead to higher rather than lower exposure to risk. This article, using a sample of savings and loan associations (S&Ls), examines the proposition that involvement with interest-rate derivatives instruments increases depository institutions' risk. We find that there is a negative correlation between risk and derivatives usage. In addition, S&Ls that used derivatives experienced relatively greater growth in their fixed-rate mortgage portfolios. Copyright 1996 by Ohio State University Press.