Risks from the ‘shadow banking’ sector

As things stand, we think it is unlikely that non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs) would trigger a major financial crisis comparable to the Global Financial Crisis. The biggest risks relate to potential liquidity mismatches in open-ended funds, which are a very small share of the global financial system. If risks do materialise, they are most likely to be a problem in major advanced economies with large NBFI sectors like the US and euro-zone, and would first be evident in indicators of market liquidity, such as sharp rises in bid-ask spreads of high-yield bonds.