Stable and strong lending relations among financial institutions have been credited as the mainstay of interbank markets and financial stability. They are an indicator of trust among financial institutions. From a network perspective, we measure how stable relations are in the Colombian unsecured interbank lending market. We calculate the survival ratio of interbank networks, which corresponds to the fraction of linkages found in consecutive interbank lending networks. From January 2014 to September 2019, on average, about 58 per cent of linkages survive from one day to the next. About 36, 28, and 22 per cent of linkages survive during a 5-, 10-, and 20-day period, respectively. Regarding the strength of lending relations, results are robust to the exclusion of low-value linkages and non-banking institutions. A non-parametric test discards randomness as a plausible source of observed survival ratios. Preliminary examination of survival ratios during the first weeks of the financial turmoil caused by Covid-19 pandemic and falling oil prices suggests that trust in the interbank market was not seriously affected. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that stable and strong interbank lending relations exist in the Colombian market. From a financial stability perspective, the survival ratio may aid financial authorities in their quest for monitoring financial institutions' willingness to exchange funds among them.

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With its annual Payment Systems Report, Banco de la República offers a complete overview of the infrastructure of Colombia’s financial market. Each edition of the report has four objectives: 1) to publicize a consolidated account of how the figures for payment infrastructures have evolved with respect to both financial assets and goods and services; 2) to summarize the issues that are being debated internationally and are of interest to the industry that provides payment clearing and settlement services; 3) to offer the public an explanation of the ideas and concepts behind retail-value payment processes and the trends in retail payments within the circuit of individuals and companies; and 4) to familiarize the public, the industry, and all other financial authorities with the methodological progress that has been achieved through applied research to analyze the stability of payment systems. This edition introduces changes that have been made in the structure of the report, which are intended to make it easier and more enjoyable to read. The initial sections in this edition, which is the eleventh, contain an analysis of the statistics on the evolution and performance of financial market infrastructures. These are understood as multilateral systems wherein the participating entities clear, settle and register payments, securities, derivatives and other financial assets. The large-value payment system (CUD) saw less momentum in 2019 than it did the year before, mainly because of a decline in the amount of secondary market operations for government bonds, both in cash and sell/buy-backs, which was offset by an increase in operations with collective investment funds (CIFs) and Banco de la República’s operations to increase the money supply (repos). Consequently, the Central Securities Depository (DCV) registered less activity, due to fewer negotiations on the secondary market for public debt. This trend was also observed in the private debt market, as evidenced by the decline in the average amounts cleared and settled through the Central Securities Depository of Colombia (Deceval) and in the value of operations with financial derivatives cleared and settled through the Central Counterparty of Colombia (CRCC). Section three offers a comprehensive look at the market for retail-value payments; that is, transactions made by individuals and companies. During 2019, electronic transfers increased, and payments made with debit and credit cards continued to trend upward. In contrast, payments by check continued to decline, although the average daily value was almost four times the value of debit and credit card purchases. The same section contains the results of the fourth survey on how the use of retail-value payment instruments (for usual payments) is perceived. Conducted at the end of 2019, the main purpose of the survey was to identify the availability of these payment instruments, the public’s preferences for them, and their acceptance by merchants. It is worth noting that cash continues to be the instrument most used by the population for usual monthly payments (88.1% with respect to the number of payments and 87.4% in value). However, its use in terms of value has declined, having registered 89.6% in the 2017 survey. In turn, the level of acceptance by merchants of payment instruments other than cash is 14.1% for debit cards, 13.4% for credit cards, 8.2% for electronic transfers of funds and 1.8% for checks. The main reason for the use of cash is the absence of point-of-sale terminals at commercial establishments. Considering that the retail-payment market worldwide is influenced by constant innovation in payment services, by the modernization of clearing and settlement systems, and by the efforts of regulators to redefine the payment industry for the future, these trends are addressed in the fourth section of the report. There is an account of how innovations in technology-based financial payment services have developed, and it shows that while this topic is not new, it has evolved, particularly in terms of origin and vocation. One of the boxes that accompanies the fourth section deals with certain payment aspects of open banking and international experience in that regard, which has given the customers of a financial entity sovereignty over their data, allowing them, under transparent and secure conditions, to authorize a third party, other than their financial entity, to request information on their accounts with financial entities, thus enabling the third party to offer various financial services or initiate payments. Innovation also has sparked interest among international organizations, central banks, and research groups concerning the creation of digital currencies. Accordingly, the last box deals with the recent international debate on issuance of central bank digital currencies. In terms of the methodological progress that has been made, it is important to underscore the work that has been done on the role of central counterparties (CCPs) in mitigating liquidity and counterparty risk. The fifth section of the report offers an explanation of a document in which the work of CCPs in financial markets is analyzed and corroborated through an exercise that was built around the Central Counterparty of Colombia (CRCC) in the Colombian market for non-delivery peso-dollar forward exchange transactions, using the methodology of network topology. The results provide empirical support for the different theoretical models developed to study the effect of CCPs on financial markets. Finally, the results of research using artificial intelligence with information from the large-value payment system are presented. Based on the payments made among financial institutions in the large-value payment system, a methodology is used to compare different payment networks, as well as to determine which ones can be considered abnormal. The methodology shows signs that indicate when a network moves away from its historical trend, so it can be studied and monitored. A methodology similar to the one applied to classify images is used to make this comparison, the idea being to extract the main characteristics of the networks and use them as a parameter for comparison. Juan José Echavarría Governor

Purpose From a financial stability viewpoint, this paper aims to study cyclical interdependencies arising from the cross-holding of securities in the Colombian financial system. Design/methodology/approach Cross-holding of securities in financial systems occurs when two financial institutions hold securities issued by each other or when more than two financial institutions hold securities issued by each other in a circular structure. Securities cross-holding is key for financial stability because of potential contagion arising from cyclical interdependencies in the connective architecture of financial systems. The presence of cyclical interdependencies is studied based on network analysis. The data set is a multilayer network that comprises bonds, certificates of deposit and equity issued and held by Colombian financial institutions from 2016 to 2019. Findings Results show that the extent of securities’ cyclical interdependencies is particularly low and stable – even when cross-holding across different types of securities is considered. Research limitations/implications The monetary value of exposures and their size with respect to financial institutions’ balance sheets are not considered. Studying the impact on the financial system’s solvency is a compulsory research path. Practical implications The network topology suggests that increased potential contagion by cyclical interdependencies and feedback effects from securities cross-holding is rather limited. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that cyclical interdependencies arising from the securities cross-holding are studied. From a financial stability perspective, the methodology is general and promising for monitoring and analytical purposes.

Cross-holding of securities in financial systems occurs when i) two financial institutions hold securities issued by each other or ii) more than two financial institutions hold securities issued by each other in a circular structure. Securities cross-holding is relevant for financial stability because they may further propagate and amplify shocks, therefore increasing the potential for contagion among interconnected financial institutions. We use a unique dataset of securities issued and held by financial institutions to measure the extent of securities cross-holding in Colombia. The dataset comprises bonds, certificates of deposit, and equity issued and held (in proprietary position) by financial institutions from 2016 to 2019. Results show that the extent of securities cross-holding in the Colombian financial system is particularly low-even when cross-holding across different types of securities is considered. The network topology suggests that potential contagion from securities cross-holding is rather limited.