Demand Deposits : Valuation and Interest Rate Risk Management

Abstract: In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, regulatory authorities have implemented stricter policies to ensure more prudent risk management practices among banks. Despite the growing importance of demand deposits for banks, no policies for how to adequately account for the inherent interest rate risk have been introduced. Demand deposits are associated with two sources of uncertainties which make it difficult to assess its risks using standardized models: they lack a predetermined maturity and the deposit rate may be changed at the bank’s discretion. In light of this gap, this study aims to empirically investigate the modeling of the valuation and interest rate risk of demand deposits with two different frameworks: the Economic Value Model Framework (EVM) and the Replicating Portfolio Model Framework (RPM). To analyze the two frameworks, models for the demand deposit rate and demand deposit volume are developed using a comprehensive and novel dataset provided by one the biggest commercial banks in Sweden. The findings indicate that including macroeconomic variables in the modeling of the deposit rate and deposit volume do not improve the modeling accuracy. This is in contrast to what has been suggested by previous studies. The findings also indicate that there are modeling differences between demand deposit categories. Finally, the EVM is found to produce interest rate risks with less variability compared to the RPM.