Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Kleimeier - Ros, Stefanie Author-workplace-name: Finance, RS: GSBE EFME Author-Name: Qi, Shusen Author-workplace-name: Finance, RS: GSBE EFME Author-Name: Sander, H. Title: Deposit Insurance in Times of Crises: Safe Haven or Regulatory Arbitrage? (RM/15/026-revised-) Abstract: This paper examines the impact of deposit insurance (DI) schemes on bilateral cross-border deposits. Our results suggest that not only the existence of explicit DI, but also DI design features, which reflect its credibility, have an impact on cross-border deposits. Relative differences between reporting and depositor countries also matter. In times of crises, depositors rely more on DI in general, but DI acts primarily as a “Safe Haven” rather than enabling “Regulatory Arbitrage”. During the global financial crisis of 2008/09 the emergency actions of bank country governments, which supply and maintain these safe havens, have led to substantial relocations of cross-border deposits. These results suggest that un-coordinated policy actions matter in times of crises and harmonization of DI schemes could have stabilizing effects on the allocation of cross-border deposits. Classification-JEL: f34,g18 Series: GSBE Research Memoranda Creation-Date: 20160101 Number: 026 File-URL: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/files/4238463/RM16026.pdf File-Format: application/pdf File-Size: 971785 Handle: Repec:unm:umagsb:2016026 DOI: 10.26481/umagsb.2016026