In the branch banking system, branches with surplus funds cannot be profitable without an internal fund transfer pricing (FTP) system. Therefore, a dynamic FTP model is critical to enhance a bank’s sustainability. This article has designed a market-oriented multiple FTP model by factoring in liquidity risk, market interest rate, credit demand, and portfolio diversification. The FTP rates are estimated using the 151 branch-level daily data of a bank in India. We reduced the endogeneity issue related to variable selection with the 2SLS system equation. The findings suggest that dual-functioning branches are profitable if they reduce their fund borrowings from the corporate head office (HO). Corporate treasury provides liquidity support to banks, but their profit gets impacted by the increase in the policy and HO-transfer rate. The study showed that corporate spread is significantly affected by increased liquidity cost and market borrowing rate. It is also empirically established that internal FTP pricing may hamper branches’ earnings when branch managers mobilize funds beyond the cost of lending as per FTP rates. The dynamic FTP model is linked to the yield curve, making it market oriented and enabling managers to price products effectively. JEL Codes: G21, D02
Banerjee et al. (Sat,) studied this question.