A global lending channel unplugged? : does U.S. monetary policy affect cross‐border and affiliate lending by global U.S. banks?

We examine how U.S. monetary policy affects the international activities of U.S. Banks. We access a rarely studied US bank‐level dataset to assess at a quarterly frequency how changes in the U.S. Federal funds rate (before the crisis) and quantitative easing (after the onset of the crisis) affects changes in cross‐border claims by U.S. banks across countries, maturities and sectors, and also affects changes in claims by their foreign affiliates. We find robust evidence consistent with the existence of a potent global bank lending channel. In response to changes in U.S. monetary conditions, U.S. banks strongly adjust their cross‐border claims in both the pre and post‐crisis period. However, we also find that U.S. bank affiliate claims respond mainly to host country monetary conditions