Impact of the financial crisis on bank run risk – Danger of the days after

Goedde-Menke M, Langer T, Pfingsten A

Abstract

We examine the developments of depositor knowledge, attitudes, and behavior throughout the recent financial crisis and discuss their impact on bank run risk. Based on a self-collected data set surveying depositors before (2007), at (2008), and after the peak of the crisis (2009), we observe a worrying dynamic pattern. At the peak, depositors knew more about deposit insurance, placed more importance on deposit security, and slightly raised their deposits. However, in the aftermath of the crisis the enhanced depositor knowledge proved to be non-permanent while the increased importance of deposit security and the exposure of depositors persisted. The proportion of completely uninformed, strongly involved, and highly exposed depositors, who carry the highest risk of triggering a bank run, was reduced around the peak of the crisis but rebounded strongly afterwards, even exceeding pre-crisis levels. These findings point to a higher bank run risk in the aftermath than during the financial crisis.