Network structure analysis of the Brazilian interbank market ☆ Thiago Christiano Silva a,b,c, ⁎ ,1 , Sergio Rubens Stancato de Souza a , Benjamin Miranda Tabak c,1 a Research Department, Central Bank of Brazil, Brasília, Brazil b Department of Computing and Mathematics, Faculty of Philosophy, Science, and Literature at Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil c Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil article info abstract Article history: Received 1 July 2015 Received in revised form 13 November 2015 Accepted 20 December 2015 Available online 26 January 2016 In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the roles financial institu- tions play within the Brazilian interbank market using a network-based approach. We present a novel methodology to assess how compliant networks are to being perfect core-periphery structures. The approach is flexible, allowing for the identification of multiple cores in networks. We verify that the interbank network presents a high disassortative mixing pattern, suggesting preferential attachment of highly connected financial institutions to others with few connections. We use the cluster- ing coefficient to assess the substitutability of financial institutions. We find that large banking institutions are counterparties that are easily substitutable in normal times. We uncover that the rich-club effect is strongly present in the community comprising the large banking institu- tions, as they normally form near-clique structures. Since they play the role of liquidity providers in the interbank market, this interconnected- ness effectively endows the network with robustness, as participants that are with liquidity issues can easily substitute counterparties that are liquidity suppliers. This substitutability will likely vanish during periods of stress, increasing systemic risk and the likelihood of cascade failures. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Network analysis Core-periphery Complex network Interbank market Systemic risk Financial stability Emerging Markets Review 26 (2016) 130–152 ☆ The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Banco Central do Brasil nor of its members. We wish to thank Editor Jonathan A. Batten, Associate Editor Wai-Sum Chan, Eduardo J. A. Lima, Aquiles R. de Farias, João B. R. B. Barroso, and the anonymous referee for the constructive comments, which have helped in improving the paper. ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: thiago.silva@bcb.gov.br (T.C. Silva), sergio.souza@bcb.gov.br (S.R.S. de Souza), benjaminm.tabak@gmail.com (B.M. Tabak). 1 Thiago C. Silva and Benjamin M. Tabak gratefully acknowledge financial support from the CNPq foundation. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ememar.2015.12.004 1566-0141/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Emerging Markets Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/emr