What drives the growth of shadow banks? Evidence from emerging markets

The present study analyses the factors affecting the growth of Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFI) and finance companies in 11 emerging market economies (EMEs) that the FSB monitors. Using data for the period 2002 to 2019 and employing the panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) method, the results indicate that the growth of banks, search for yield, demand from institutional investors, and bank regulations are the key factors affecting the growth of NBFI. Further, the study highlights the impact of different types of bank regulations on the NBFI growth in EMEs. While the capital regulations tend to restrict their growth, activity restrictions and restrictions for financial conglomerates boost NBFI growth. Thus, stringent bank regulations create arbitrage opportunities for non-banks.