What Is Liquidity Crisis: Definition and Meaning (2024)

What Is Liquidity Crisis: Definition and Meaning (1)

A liquidity crisis is economic and financial terminology for a shortage of liquidity. It can refer to various types of liquidity including funding, market and accounting liquidity. Certain economists state that a market is liquid if it can consume liquidity trades without large shifts in price.

Key takeaways:

  • A liquidity crisis occurs when a company or financial institution experiences a shortage of cash or liquid assets to meet its financial obligations.

  • Liquidity crises can be caused by a variety of factors, including poor management decisions, a sudden loss of investor confidence, or an unexpected economic shock.

  • To prevent a liquidity crisis, companies should maintain adequate levels of cash and liquid assets, regularly assess their financial risks, and have contingency plans in place.

  • During a liquidity crisis, companies may need to take immediate steps to raise cash, such as selling assets, reducing expenses, or seeking emergency loans from banks or investors.

Where have you heard about liquidity crisis?

One of the earliest and most influential models of liquidity crisis is the Diamond-Dybvig model. Developed in 1983, it demonstrated how financial intermediation by banks, executed by accepting assets that are intrinsically illiquid and posing liabilities which are much more liquid, is more likely to make banks vulnerable to bank runs.

What you need to know about liquidity crisis

Significant drops in asset prices are rife during a liquidity crisis. This is why asset prices are vulnerable to liquidity risk and risk averse investors need a higher expected return as a means of compensation to account for the risk that they are taking. The CAPM imparts that if an asset has a high market liquidity risk then it should also have a higher required return. Certain economists believe that financial liberalisation and increased amounts of foreign capital are to blame, at least in the short term, for the aggravated illiquidity and increased vulnerability in banks.

What Is Liquidity Crisis: Definition and Meaning (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of liquidity crisis? ›

A liquidity crisis occurs when a company or financial institution experiences a shortage of cash or liquid assets to meet its financial obligations. Liquidity crises can be caused by a variety of factors, including poor management decisions, a sudden loss of investor confidence, or an unexpected economic shock.

What is the definition of liquidity? ›

Liquidity refers to the ease with which an asset, or security, can be converted into ready cash without affecting its market price. Cash is the most liquid of assets, while tangible items are less liquid. The two main types of liquidity are market liquidity and accounting liquidity.

What is liquidity risk in simple words? ›

Liquidity risk is the risk of loss resulting from the inability to meet payment obligations in full and on time when they become due. Liquidity risk is inherent to the Bank's business and results from the mismatch in maturities between assets and liabilities.

What indicates the symptom of liquidity crisis? ›

Liquidity crises often lead to increased market volatility, panic selling, and a general lack of confidence among investors and market participants. Triggering factors include a sudden loss of confidence, market disruptions, excessive leverage, geopolitical events, and unexpected economic shocks.

What is another word for liquidity crisis? ›

Synonyms for Liquidity crisis
  • credit crunch. n.
  • squeeze. n.
  • cash crisis.
  • cash crunch.
  • cash-flow crisis.
  • cash-flow problems.
  • crisis of liquidity.
  • full funding.

What is an example of a liquidity issue? ›

Market Liquidity Risk

This is the inability to easily exit a position. For example, we may own real estate but, owing to bad market conditions, it can only be sold imminently at a fire sale price. The asset surely has value, but as buyers have temporarily evaporated, the value cannot be realized.

What best describes liquidity? ›

Liquidity is the ability to convert assets into cash quickly and cheaply. Liquidity ratios are most useful when they are used in comparative form. This analysis may be internal or external.

What is liquidity in short-term? ›

Liquidity refers to a company's ability to collect enough short-term assets to pay short-term liabilities as they come due. A business must be able to sell a product or service and collect cash fast enough to finance company operations.

What is liquidity in real life? ›

At its core, liquidity describes how easily an asset can be converted into cash without affecting its market price. It's the financial world's measure of readiness, the ability to meet obligations when they come due without incurring substantial losses.

What is danger of liquidity? ›

Liquidity risk is defined as the risk that the Group has insufficient financial resources to meet its commitments as they fall due, or can only secure them at excessive cost. Liquidity exposure represents the potential stressed outflows in any future period less expected inflows.

What is liquidity risk during financial crisis? ›

Liquidity risk is a factor that banks, corporations, and individuals may encounter when they are unable to meet short-term financial obligations due to insufficient cash or the inability to convert assets into cash without significant loss.

What causes a liquidity risk? ›

Economic disruptions

Liquidity risk increases when such economic disruptions render businesses unable to meet cash flow and collateral needs under normal and stressed conditions.

What happens in a liquidity crisis? ›

What Is a Liquidity Crisis? A liquidity crisis is a financial situation characterized by a lack of cash or easily-convertible-to-cash assets on hand across many businesses or financial institutions simultaneously.

What are the types of liquidity crisis? ›

There are two types of liquidity risks: trading liquidity risk and funding liquidity risk. Large-scale liquidity risks often materialize in financial markets when aggregate investor sentiment forces the market into a position where overall liquidity becomes a problem. This can occur in both the equity and debt markets.

Are banks facing a liquidity crisis? ›

The banking system faced increased volatility due to a liquidity crisis in the first quarter of 2023. Banks are focused on stabilizing liquidity and maintaining confidence in the banking system.

What happens to banks in a liquidity crisis? ›

In a liquidity crisis, liquidity problems at individual institutions lead to an acute increase in demand and decrease in supply of liquidity, and the resulting lack of available liquidity can lead to widespread defaults and even bankruptcies.

When was the last liquidity crisis? ›

During the fourth quarter of 2008, these central banks purchased US$2.5 (~$3.47 trillion in 2023) trillion of government debt and troubled private assets from banks. This was the largest liquidity injection into the credit market, and the largest monetary policy action in world history.

What does liquidity mean in business terms? ›

What is liquidity in business? Liquidity is an up-to-date measure of a business's ability to quickly convert assets to cash. Some assets are more liquid than others: Current assets are the most liquid. They can be used for transactions almost instantly.

What can happen to a company with poor liquidity? ›

A company's liquidity indicates its ability to pay debt obligations, or current liabilities, without having to raise external capital or take out loans. High liquidity means that a company can easily meet its short-term debts while low liquidity implies the opposite and that a company could imminently face bankruptcy.

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