02139cas a2200253 a 4500 AALejournalIMF015054 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781616357047 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Adler, Gustavo. Are Foreign Banks a 'Safe Haven'? : Evidence from Past Banking Crises / Gustavo Adler, Eugenio Cerutti. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2015. 1 online resource (27 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students The presence of foreign banks in emerging markets has increased markedly over the last two decades, raising questions about their potentially stabilizing or destabilizing role during times of financial distress. Most studies on this subject have focused on banks' asset side (i.e., their lending behavior). This paper focuses on their liability side, studying the behavior of depositors vis-a-vis foreign banks. We rely on data from the banking crises in Argentina and Uruguay over the period 1994-2002 to conduct the study. The paper focuses on three questions; (i) are foreign banks perceived as a safe haven during bank runs?; (ii) does their legal structure (branch versus subsidiary) matter?; (iii) do perceptions depend on the nature of the crisis? Contrary to the commonly held view that foreign banks play a stabilizing role during domestic banking crises, we do not find robust evidence in this regard. Only in one (large) bank run episode, out of five studied, there is evidence of safe haven perceptions towards foreign branches. Mode of access: Internet Cerutti, Eugenio. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2015/043 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2015/043/001.2015.issue-043-en.xml IMF e-Library