Struggle for survival in credit crunch: The effect of interest rate deregulation in China

This study investigates how interest rate deregulation affects firms' financing choice between bank debt and public debt. Our analysis exploits China's 2013 bank interest rate floor deregulation as an exogenous shock to the supply of bank credit. Using a difference-in-difference design, we find that firms with higher default risk substitute away from bank loan and switch to public debt after the 2013 deregulation. However, this substitution to public debt is limited, leading to a dramatic decline in debt ratio. Our result also demonstrates that the effect on firms' public debt financing is more pronounced for firms with better information environments, suggesting that good information environment is an important prerequisite for making the switch. This switching, contradicting to traditional financing framework that high-risk firms prefer bank loans, inevitably is costly. Compared with low-risk firms, bonds issued by high-risk firms have significantly higher spreads, a higher likelihood of being secured, and a higher tendency of including an interest-adjusted clause. More importantly, we also document that high-risk firms subsequently improve their information transparency after the interest rate deregulation. Our findings highlight the role of interest rate deregulation in firms' financing choice and illustrate that firms incur high switching costs when their choice deviates from the optimal financing choice.     

Growth opportunities,collateral and debt structure: the case of the Japanese machine manufacturing firms

We explore the determinants of debt structure by analyzing the Japanese machine manufacturing firms’ data from 1990 through 1996. We find that firms with abundant growth opportunities and scarce collateral are likely to borrow from banks rather than to issue bonds. This is robust even if we consider the simultaneous decision of the debt composition and leverage or managerial incentive. We also find that firms with abundant growth opportunities or collateral tend to depend on equity rather than on debt. Though banks reduce the agency costs of debt for growing firms, equity costs less than bank loans for them.     

Bank dependence and financial constraints on investment: Evidence from the corporate bond market paralysis in Japan

This paper investigates whether firms are able to substitute bank loans for public debt when the latter become less available to firms. To do so, this paper utilizes the 2008 financial crisis and its impact on Japanese markets as a natural experiment. Because the Japanese banking sector remained functional while the corporate bond markets were paralyzed, the data from Japan during this period provide us with an ideal environment to examine this hypothesis. I specifically examined whether firms with large holdings of corporate bonds maturing in FY2008 were financially constrained, by comparing the changes in their capital investment expenditures and borrowing conditions with those of bank-dependent firms. The main empirical results indicate that (1) firms with large holdings of corporate bonds maturing in FY2008 did not reduce investment expenditures; (2) instead, they exhibited higher increments in bank loans; and (3) firms that maintained relatively close bank-firm relationships had greater access to bank loans with low borrowing costs. These findings demonstrate that Japanese firms were able to substitute bank loans for public debt during the crisis and imply that the Japanese banking sector worked efficiently to replace public debt markets during the crisis.     

Accounting Restatements and External Financing Choices*

There is little research on how accounting information quality affects a firm’s external financing choices. In this paper, we use the occurrence of accounting restatements as a proxy for the reduced credibility of accounting information and investigate how restatements affect a firm’s external financing choices. We find that for firms that obtain external financing after restatements, they rely more on debt financing, especially private debt financing, and less on equity financing. The increase in debt financing is more pronounced for firms with more severe information problems and less pronounced for firms with prompt CEO or CFO turnover and auditor dismissal. Our evidence indicates that accounting information quality affects capital providers’ resource allocation and that debt holders help alleviate information problems after accounting restatements.     

Corporate governance and the cost of public debt financing: Evidence from Japan

This paper explores the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and the cost of public debt financing in Japan. Using a sample of corporate bonds newly issued in Japan during the period 2005–2008, I find that CEO ownership is associated with higher yield spreads after controlling for other governance, bond, and firm characteristics. Founding family ownership is also positively related to yield spreads. In contrast, firms with large corporate shareholders enjoy lower yield spreads. These results are robust to various alternative specifications. Overall, my results indicate the importance of corporate governance mechanisms in Japanese corporate bond markets.     

股权分置改革对上市公司投资的影响——基于负债来源结构的实证分析

以我国上市公司为研究对象,考察实施一年多的股权分置改革是否对负债融资与企业投资行为的关系产生影响,从而揭示股权分置改革的成效。实证结果表明,改革加强了负债融资与企业投资的显著负相关关系;对于拥有低成长机会的企业来说,商业信用表现出对投资的约束作用;对于拥有高成长机会的企业来说,商业信用表现出对投资的抑制作用。而银行借款表现了预算软约束现象。     

Local guarantees and SOE bond pricing in China

We study the changing landscape of credit market guarantees by examining the risk-pricing of the Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) bonds, which have experienced rising defaults across provinces from a zero record. Using primary market bond issuance data, we identify a province premium that captures the perceived local government support for local SOEs. We find that on average the perceived local government support is on the decline, while the subnational debt market has become more segmented since 2018. This evidence is found to be closely related to the divergence in local government’s fiscal space and the occurrence of SOE default incidents in the area, highlighting the adverse linkage between public debt and corporate financing costs.     

我国债务融资治理效应分析

本文在分析我国债务融资现状的基础上,阐述了当前债务融资软约束的成因,认为偿债保障机制的不完善、银行监督作用的缺失、企业债券市场的发展缓慢以及经理人市场的缺失是我国上市公司债权治理效应弱化的主要原因,最后针对各项成因提出加强债务融资治理效应的对策建议。     

Inferring Accounting Information from Corporate Financing Choices: An Examination of Security Issuances in the Banking Industry*

This study examines the impact of regulatory capital and several of its determinants (i.e., earnings, loan loss provisions, charge‐offs and growth) on bank managers' financing decisions and investors' interpretations of those decisions. The analysis is related to two streams of research. We add to the corporate finance literature that seeks to explain the market's reaction to security issuances by developing and testing a refined set of predictions of the demand for debt and equity capital using a sample of capital‐regulated firms (banks). We extend the accounting literature that links regulatory capital‐management decisions with bank performance by examining whether investors infer that performance. We find that bank managers' financing choices reflect their private information regarding the levels of regulatory capital, earnings, and charge‐offs in the issuance year. We document a negative market reaction to capital‐increasing issuances and a positive reaction to capital‐decreasing issuances. A cross‐sectional analysis of that market reaction indicates that investors infer managers' expectations of earnings in the issuance year.     

Is Japan's financial system efficient?

This paper puts forward some hypotheses to try and explain therecent fragility of the Japanese banking sector in a corporate-governanceperspective. One hypothesis is that the banks themselves werenot effectively monitored and disciplined. A second hypothesisis that the banks were able to show a good performance not becausethey monitored and disciplined their client firms, but becausethe firms were themselves disciplined by international competition.When those client firms reduced their reliance on bank creditin the 1980s, the banks were forced to extend their funds tonon-traded-goods industries, such as real estate and finance,without having prepared themselves for this. The consequencewas a serious non-performing-loan problem in the 1990s.     

分权化改革、政府干预与国有企业债务融资

债务融资一直是资本结构研究的重要内容。利用我国上市公司数据,采用规范研究和实证研究相结合的方法,对我国分权化改革和政府干预如何影响国有企业债务融资进行了分析。研究发现,企业所在地区的分权化程度越高,企业银行贷款率越高,政府干预对企业银行贷款影响越大。在考虑债务融资的性质差异基础上,进一步研究发现,企业所在地区的分权化程度越高,政府干预对长期借款的影响比短期借款大。上述研究说明,分权化改革影响着国有企业的债务融资行为,并使地方政府有很强的动机干预辖区内的国有企业债务融资行为。     

Reputational recovery under political instability: Public debt in Portugal, 1641–83

This article examines the reputation recovery of Portugal's public debt during the war of liberation against the former Habsburg ruler. Using novel datasets on long- and short-term debt and nominal interest rates, this study provides evidence that the sovereign borrower used debt credibility to build a pact of regime in a revolutionary context with implications for financing the war. The Portuguese kings followed an implicit budget balance rule as a reputational scheme, which made Portugal an exceptional case of military success with a low debt-to-GDP ratio and low interest rates. These conclusions contribute to the literature in various attributes of war finance, debt management, and state-making by showing that default avoidance could be as important to military success as fiscal capacity.     

How do leverage ratios affect bank share performance during financial crises: The Japanese experience of the late 1990s

This study investigates the relationship between leverage ratios and bank share performance for a sample of Japanese banks during the period of financial crisis in the late 1990s. We differentiate between two types of leverage ratios: book leverage and market leverage. We show that market leverage instead of book leverage observed before the crisis has statistically and economically significant predictive power for the cross-sectional variation in bank performance during the crisis, even after controlling for a variety of other indicators reflecting bank’s characteristics and financial conditions. We also find that banks with lower market leverage ratios were affected more adversely by the failure announcements of large financial institutions during the crisis. The results are robust across alternative model specifications, statistical methodologies, lengths of sample intervals, and measures of bank share performance during the crisis. Our results therefore have important implications for regulators in identifying distressed banks that are vulnerable to the deterioration in conditions of the financial system.     

Determinants of public debt maturities

Summary This paper studies financing strategies which underlie the maturity structure of the public debt. Three important objectives for domestic public debt management are distinguished: interest cost reduction, economic stabilization and economic neutrality. The strategies which can be associated with these objectives are incorporated in a simple debt management model, which has been tested empirically for the case of The Netherlands. Variations in debt maturities between 1960 and 1985 appear to be related to changes in capital market conditions, investment preferences and expected real interest rates.I would like to thank Jakob de Haan, Victor Halberstadt, Robert Haveman, Jeroen Kremers, Gusta Renes, Ben van Velthoven and two referees for valuable comments. Research assistance by Marlies Pel is gratefully acknowledged.     

Outside Blockholders' Monitoring of Management and Debt Financing

Corporate governance mechanisms designed to alleviate manager‐shareholder agency conflicts can worsen shareholder‐bondholder conflicts. This study examines how one such corporate governance mechanism, monitoring by large outside shareholders, influences the choice between public and private debt. I conjecture and find that firms with higher outside blockholdings are inclined to choose bank loans over public debt when they borrow, consistent with the notion that banks are better monitors than public debt markets. I also find that bank loans carry less price protection than corporate bonds against increased agency risk associated with outside blocks. Corroborating the monitoring story, I document that bank loans contain more accounting‐based covenants and dividend restriction provisions for firms with higher outside blockholdings than for those with lower blockholdings. I find no such relation for public debt covenants. This supports that banks' monitoring of their loans counters the agency risk caused by blockholders. This study extends prior research that associates governance mechanisms with agency costs of debt, by incorporating lenders' differential monitoring mechanisms in the overall corporate governance system.     

Financial Deregulation and the Cost Structure of State and Private Banks in Indonesia: Some Evidence from Microeconomic Data

Since the major deregulation of Indonesian banking in the late 1980s the quality and availability of local banking services has significantly expanded. But controversy continues over the impact of deregulation on the industrial structure of banking in Indonesia. This paper uses micro data to examine the impact of deregulation on the costs and profitability of the state commercial banks in comparison with a benchmark sample of relatively efficient private banks. The sample period covers both the pre- and post- deregulation eras. The study finds that deregulation had a strong impact At the private banks, large cost reductions have been passed on to customers in the form of narrower intermediation margins By contrast, margins have barely changed at the state banks. Profitability measured in relation to equity has fallen significantly, especially at state banks For recent years, the margins are not out of line with available data on international comparators.     

商业信用:基于企业融资动机的实证研究

商业信用是企业从外部市场进行短期融资的重要组成部分。本文采用我国上市公司2000年至2004年的数据实证研究了商业信用作为企业外部融资方式的决定因素。实证结果发现企业获得的商业信用与企业规模、财务杠杆、销售增长率以及国有股比例呈显著正相关关系．而与短期银行借款比例以厦毛利润率呈显著负相关关系。这些发现表明，在我国目前所处的融资环境下。商业信用已经成为企业的重要融资手段。与银行信贷相比。商业信用具有一定的融资比较优势，作为提供商业信用的企业，对客户的经营状况等信息的了解更有效。     

Fund Mobilization and Investment Behavior in Thai Manufacturing Firms in the Early 1990s*

This paper investigates capital structure and investment behavior in Thailand in the early 1990s. Various features of financial markets are considered, and the possibility of applying the ‘pecking order hypothesis’ to developing countries is discussed. By estimating the determinants of the capital structure and the investment functions, three major results are obtained. First, the lower debt ratio of listed firms is realized by an increase in the capital surplus gained by initial public offering. Second, firms’ participation in the securities market accommodates agency costs both in the equity and bank‐loan markets. Third, ‘financial conglomerate’ firms are inactive investors and are dependent upon informal financial transactions, whereas foreign firms borrow less and invest more.     

Dark-side evidence on bank–firm relationship in Japan

Kang and Stulz [Kang, J.K., Stulz, R.M., 2000. Do banking shocks affect borrowing firm performance? An analysis of the Japanese experience. Journal of Business 73, 1–23] find that firms which are more dependent on banks perform especially poorly during the early 1990s when Japan suffered a great economic shock. Examining the same period, this study provides further evidence on the dark side of a close bank–firm relationship. The results reveal that main banks try to stabilize their earnings by asking their closely controlled clients to over-borrow and over-invest. More specifically, we find a higher main bank power (MBP) is associated with higher loan ratio, higher interest payments, higher investment expenditure but worse firm performance.     

Loan interest rate pass-through and changes after the financial crisis: Japan’s evidence

We estimate interest rate pass-through in the loan market using an individual bank-based panel dataset from Japan. Previous studies using data from European countries have presented a number of common findings, including that banks with a high proportion of relationship lending tend to set lower pass-through. In this respect, we have obtained similar results using a dataset for Japan going back to the early 2000s. We further examine the influence of borrowing firms’ balance sheet characteristics on loan interest rate pass-through, and find that these additional factors are also important determinants for pass-through dispersion. However, after the recent global financial crisis, even banks with a high proportion of relationship lending have largely lowered loan interest rates by raising pass-through, and pass-through has not necessarily been determined in accordance with borrowing firms’ balance sheet characteristics. These results differ from those of recent studies on European countries. Possible background factors explaining this change are that (i) pressure to lower loan interest rates has risen due to extensive monetary easing and greater lending competition among banks, while Japan’s banking system as a whole has maintained its resilience in the post-crisis period; (ii) demand for bank loans has increased substantially due to disruptions in the market for alternative funding sources, such as commercial paper and corporate bonds; and (iii) public measures to increase bank loans have been broadly introduced in Japan.