Modes of foreign bank entry and effects on lending rates: Theory and evidence

Policy makers who decide to liberalize foreign bank entry frequently put limitations on the mode of entry. We study how different entry modes affect the lending rates of foreign and domestic banks. In our model, the mode of entry determines whether a foreign bank inherits a customer base. This, in turn, affects how information is distributed between foreign and domestic banks. We show that this distribution of information about incumbent customers leads to stronger competition if foreign entry occurs through a greenfield investment. As a result, domestic bank lending rates are lower after greenfield entry. We find empirical support for this prediction for a sample of banks from 10 Eastern European countries for the period 1995–2003.     

Profitability of foreign banks in Central and Eastern Europe

This article uses data for 418 banks operating in Central and Eastern Europe between 1993 and 2004 to analyse the impact of the mode of foreign bank entry and of the parent institutions’ characteristics on bank profitability. The results show that foreign banks are affected both less and differently by domestic economic conditions, but do react to the health of the parent banks and the economic situations in their home countries. Their mode of entry is important: profits of banks entering via greenfield investment exhibit a complementary relationship with their parent banks, whereas profits of banks acquiring domestic institutions are negatively related to the opportunity costs in their home markets.     

Market entry,privatization and bank performance in transition1

This paper examines how market entry and privatization have affected the margins and marginal costs of banks in the post‐communist transition. We estimate bank revenue and cost functions, allowing the estimated parameters to change over time. In the first sub‐period (1995–98), we find that privatized banks earned higher margins than other banks, while foreign start‐ups had lower marginal costs. In the third sub‐period (2002–2004), foreign banks remained low marginal cost service providers, while privatized domestic banks had the widest margins. Subtracting marginal costs from margins to calculate mark‐ups, an indication of demand for services, shows that initially privatized banks had the largest mark‐ups. However, by the third sub‐period, differences among private banks diminished. In comparison to private banks, state banks persistently under‐performed in controlling costs and attracting demand. Our evidence therefore indicates that foreign bank entry promoted lower costs and that privatization and market entry encouraged more demand for services.     

Microeconomic determinants of acquisitions of Eastern European banks by Western European banks1

A considerable number of Western European banks acquired banks in Central and Eastern Europe from the mid‐1990s onwards. The question is whether or not this will improve the efficiency and profitability of the Central and Eastern European banking sectors. We test the relative strength of the efficiency versus the market power hypotheses by investigating the bank‐specific characteristics of the banks involved in the cross‐border acquisitions. We also examine the determinants of the post‐acquisition target banks’ performance. Our results indicate that large Western European banks have targeted relatively large and efficient Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) banks with an established presence in their local retail banking markets. We find no evidence that cross‐border bank acquisitions in the CEEC are driven by efficiency motivations. The evidence supports the market power hypothesis, raising concerns about the optimal balance between foreign ownership and competition.     

外资银行进入对我国银行效率影响的实证分析

本文选取我国银行市场上占主要地位的14家银行1994-2004年的面板数据,就外资银行进入对我国银行业效率影响进行了实证分析.实证结果表明:外资银行的进入使得国内银行的流动性、非利息收入、经营费用和资产收益率降低,并使其资产质量下降,风险增加,但是技术外溢效应以及对国内银行盈利性的影响并不显著.而且,金融业的对外开放对国有银行造成的冲击小于股份制银行.本文还根据实证分析结果,提出相应的政策建议.     

Should countries block foreign takeovers of R&D champions and promote greenfield entry?

Abstract In R&D intensive industries, governments promote greenfield foreign investments, while being sceptical towards foreign acquisitions of domestic high‐quality firms. We develop a theoretical model that shows that foreign acquisitions are conducive to high‐quality targets because of strategic effects on the sales price. However, foreign firms ‘cherry pick’ high‐quality targets to expand R&D rather than to downsize. Otherwise, rivals expand R&D, making the acquisition unprofitable. Thus, our model predicts that acquired affiliates invest more in R&D than greenfield affiliates. Using affiliate data, we find evidence that acquired affiliates have a higher level of sequential R&D intensity than greenfield affiliates.     

Foreign bank ownership and income inequality: empirical evidence

ABSTRACT

Using country-level panel data over 1995–2013 on within-country income inequality and foreign bank presence, this paper establishes a positive relation between the two, running from higher foreign bank presence to income inequality. Given that foreign bank participation increased by 62% over the period 1995 to 2013, our baseline results imply a 5.8% increase in the Gini coefficient on average over this period, ceteris paribus. These results are robust to the inclusion of country and year fixed effects and to the use of restrictions on foreign bank entry in the host countries as an instrumental variable. We show that this positive effect is channelled through the lack of greenfield entry and the associated lower levels of competition.     

Commercial bank ownership and performance in China

This study examines the determinants of bank performance based on proxy variables that assess the quality of assets, profitability, liquidity and overall performance. Using a sample of 111 Chinese commercial banks over the period of 2000–2012, we find that foreign banks appear to have better asset quality and overall performance although lower profitability compared to domestic banks. In contrast, the state-owned banks tend to be more profitable and have better liquidity position compared with other domestic banks and foreign banks. At bank level, equity/liability ratio exerts significant influence on overall bank performance, while at the macroeconomic level, per capital GDP, GDP growth, inflation and unemployment rates appear to have a bearing on bank performance.     

Determinants of cross‐border bank acquisitions in transition economies1

We analyse the microeconomic determinants of cross‐border bank acquisitions in 11 transition economies over the period 1992–2006. We find that foreign banks target relatively large and efficient banks when they enter transition economies with weak institutions. This evidence provides support for the ‘market power’ hypothesis. However, when foreign banks enter more developed transition economies that have made progress in economic reform, they acquire less efficient banks. This result is in line with the efficiency hypothesis. We use a multilevel mixed effects logit model that allows us to explicitly incorporate the macroeconomic and institutional heterogeneity of the transition economies into our analysis.     

外资银行进入模式选择——考虑退出期权

利用实物期权方法,在考虑未来退出灵活性的情况下,分析了外资银行对进入中国市场模式的选择。研究结果表明:随着市场波动率和外资银行退出收益率的增加,外资银行选择少数股权进入模式时的退出价值大于选择独立发展进入模式时的退出期权价值,因此外资银行倾向于选择少数股权进入;随着外资银行经营效率的提高和中资银行本土化优势的减弱,外资银行倾向于选择独立发展模式进入。     

Convergence of bank competition in Central and Eastern European countries: do foreign and domestic banks go hand in hand?

Following the massive entry of foreign banks into the Central and Eastern European (CEE) banking markets, one may wonder whether their competitive behaviour differs from that of their domestic counterparts, possibly leading to the segmentation of these markets at the regional and national levels. We find that the competitive behaviour of foreign and domestic banks differs, with foreign banks having less market power until the recent financial crisis and more market power after this financial turmoil. Despite this difference, banks tend to behave similarly, and their market power converges to a similar level. The tendency towards similar competitive behaviour is observed at the regional and national levels and for both foreign and domestic banks, although foreign institutions that enter these markets through the acquisition of domestic banks have slightly more market power. Our findings suggest the regional integration of CEE banking markets and no segmentation between foreign and domestic institutions.     

Bank efficiency in South‐Eastern Europe

This study examines the cost and profit efficiency of banking sectors in six transition countries of South‐Eastern Europe over the period 1998–2008. Using a stochastic frontier approach, our analysis reveals that the average cost efficiency of South‐Eastern European banks is 68.59 percent, and the average profit efficiency is 53.87 percent. Regressions on the determinants of bank efficiency show that foreign banks are characterized by higher profit efficiency but lower cost efficiency, and government‐owned banks are associated with lower profit efficiency than domestic private banks. However, the efficiency gap between foreign‐, domestic private‐ and government‐owned banks narrows over time. We also find that the market power of a bank has a positive association with both cost and profit efficiency. Institutional development, proxied by progress in banking regulatory reforms, privatization and enterprise corporate governance restructuring, also has a positive impact on bank efficiency.     

母国客户、东道国区位优势与外资银行进入——来自中国的证据

通过研究外资银行母国客户及中国区位优势对外资银行进入的影响,显示外资银行进入国内的规模同FDI和出口正相关,同进口负相关.中国的区位优势对外资银行具有一定吸引力,国内银行业竞争水平的提升一定程度上可以限制外资银行进入.     

Explaining foreign bank entrance in emerging markets

This paper provides a theoretical framework that can explain the empirical observation that foreign banks from industrialized countries tend to increase their involvement in emerging markets in periods of market instability. In this model, domestic banks have (through past lending operations) more soft information on their borrowers available compared to foreign banks. Foreign banks, however, have a superior screening technology that allows them to obtain more hard information about their borrowers’ investment projects. The model has an important implication: Foreign banks increase their market share when credit market conditions deteriorate. The rationale for this finding is that the comparative advantage of the domestic bank loses value in unstable credit market conditions. Thus, the advantage of having a screening technology becomes more important and allows the foreign bank to increase market share. In times of crisis hard information on projects is relatively more important than soft information on the borrower’s history.     

Privatization,foreign bank entry and bank efficiency in Croatia: a Fourier-flexible function stochastic cost frontier analysis

Using bank balance sheet data for Croatia for 1994 to 2000, this study estimates a Fourier-flexible frontier cost function. Specification tests indicate that the stochastic frontier model with a Fourier-flexible form with a truncated normal distribution of the inefficiency term allowing for time varying cost efficiency is preferred. The results show that new private and privatized banks, contrary to some expectations, are not the most efficient banks through most of the period. Privatization also does not seem to have an immediate effect on improved efficiency. However, better cost efficiency is associated with a lower likelihood of failure, suggesting that better risk management and better cost management are signs of better management in general. Finally, foreign banks have substantially better efficiency scores than all categories of domestic banks.     

外资银行进入对我国银行业效率影响的实证分析——以四大国有商业银行为例

2006年底我国银行业向外资全面开放,外资银行开始与我国银行在各个领域展开全面的竞争。因此,研究外资银行进入对国内银行效率的影响,将有助于国内银行更好地采取应对之策。本文试图就外资银行进入对我国银行业效率的影响做实证分析,从盈利能力,经营管理水平,抗风险能力,资本结构等方面分别进行论证,进而对我国银行业的进一步发展提出相应的政策建议。     

The impact of multinational entry on domestic market structure and investment

We model the impact of different modes of multinational entry on the choices of domestic firms. Focusing on the competitive effects of foreign entry for the host country we demonstrate that greenfield investment will increase competition only if it is not countered by anti-competitive reactions on the part of the domestic firms. Together with cross-border mergers and acquisitions the model, thus, provides two alternative explanations for the increase in concentration ratios in industries with mostly horizontal foreign direct investment. Moreover, foreign presence is shown to raise total investment in the local industry at the cost of crowding out domestic investment.     

Enterprise restructuring and bank competition in transition economies

We investigate how bank competition affects the efficiency of credit allocation, using a model of spatial competition. Our analysis shows that bad loans are more likely the larger the number of banks competing for customers. We study further how many banks will be active if market entry is not regulated. Free entry can induce too much entry and thus too many bad loans compared to the social optimum. Finally we analyse how bank competition affects the restructuring efforts of firms. We find that restructuring has positive externalities which give rise to multiple equilibria, with either much or little restructuring activity.
JEL classification: D43, G21, G34, L13, P31, P34.     

Globalization and profitability of cross-border mergers and acquisitions

This paper studies how the surplus generated by the globalization process is divided between MNEs and owners of domestic assets. We construct an oligopoly model where the equilibrium acquisition pattern, the acquisition price and firms’ greenfield investments are endogenously determined. Acquisition entry is shown to be more likely when the complementarity between domestic and foreign assets is high. However, we show that such acquisitions might have a low profitability, since the bidding competition over the domestic assets is then so fierce that the firms involved would be better off not starting a bidding war. Risks associated with different entry modes are also examined.     

Bank ownership type and temporal evolution of long‐term bank funding in the period 2005–2017

This study uses a large panel dataset of Western European banks to examine the determinants of bank funding stability. Banks are divided into three categories by bank ownership type; the ownership types in this study are commercial banks, cooperative banks and savings banks. Three sources of stable bank funding are investigated: customer deposits, equity, and long‐term liabilities. Furthermore, the sum of these funding components is used as a proxy variable for a bank's total available stable funding (ASF). A special focus is on the temporal evolution of these funding types. The regression results show that commercial banks’ funding became much more stable in the period 2005–2017. However, that funding remains, on average, less stable than does cooperative and savings banks’ funding. In addition, funding stability has remained at the pre‐crisis level in cooperative and savings banks, despite a steep dip in cooperative banks’ ASF during the sovereign debt crisis. Furthermore, banks substantially decreased financing from long‐term liabilities after the financial crisis, replacing it with customer deposits and equity.