Liquidity
Is the ability of a bank to fund increase in assert and meet obligations as they fall due without incurring unacceptable losses. (BIS, 2008)
Liquidity risk
Involves the inability to fund increase in assets, manage unplanned changes in funding sources and to meet obligations as when required, without incurring additional costs or increasing a cash flow crisis.
Liquidity risk arises from situations in which a party interested in trading an asset cannot do it because nobody in the market wants to trade for that asset. Liquidity risk becomes particularly important to parties who are about to hold or currently hold an asset, since it affects their ability to trade, the following are two types of liquidity risk.
Market liquidity – An asset cannot be sold due to lack of liquidity in the market – essentially a sub-set of market risk, this can be accounted for by:
Widening bid/offer spread
Making explicit liquidity reserves
Funding liquidity – Risk that liability:
Cannot be met when they fall due
Can only be met at an uneconomic price