Risk management of savings accounts

This thesis deals with the risk management of savings accounts. Savings accounts are non- maturing liabilities bearing two embedded options. The first option is the client's right to withdraw deposits on notice. The second option is a bank's right to change the deposit rate on savings accounts whenever it wishes. This in practice means that a fierce competition may arise as banks can quickly react to competitor's change in the deposit rate. The embedded characteristics make the risk management of savings accounts challenging. We identify five key risks of savings accounts: liquidity risk, market risk (interest rate risk), systemic risk, reputational risk, and model risk. The thesis focuses on the interest rate risk and the method of replicating portfolios, which is a standard technique of the estimation of non-maturing liabilities' interest rate risk employed by banks. Using replicating portfolio approach, we derive that savings accounts are risky liabilities. We provide evidence that high deposit rates offered on numerous savings accounts in the Czech Republic have not been consistent with low market rates since January 2012, at least. We show that unsustainable deposit rates combined with competition among banks will lead to capital losses in some banks when market rates increase. JEL..