同业业务发展、货币政策传导与银行风险承担

商业银行同业业务逐渐从传统信用拆借演变为类信贷业务,一些银行通过同业业务实施监管套利、风险资产出表,同业业务的快速发展对原有货币政策传导体系形成干扰,甚至改变了商业银行的风险承担渠道。使用25家A股上市银行2008-2018年数据,在理论和实证两个方面分析了同业业务发展对银行风险承担的影响。理论上,同业业务能够提高银行风险承担水平和强化货币政策风险承担渠道,上述影响并同时对于不同银行伴有异质性。实证结论验证了理论推演的假设:同业业务发展与银行风险承担水平正相关,并对货币政策银行风险承担渠道具有强化作用;同业业务对大型银行的风险承担水平影响有限,但对股份制银行和中小银行的风险承担水平表现了较强的正相关性。分析货币政策风险承担渠道,中小银行对货币宽松与否更为敏感,其同业业务发展程度与货币宽松情况表现出较强的相关性。根据上述研究结论,监管政策应当更加关注银行体系分层结构下的同业业务发展引导,尤其是对于股份制银行和中小银行,应当逐步引导同业业务占比较高银行压缩同业资产,鼓励商业银行业务回归本源,支持实体经济发展。     

美国放松银行业地域管制与中小企业贷款

美国放松银行业地域管制后出现大规模的银行并购,但银行业的并购和跨区域扩张并没有使美国银行业市场过度集中和对中小企业贷款造成明显冲击。中国银行业可以从中得到有益启示:放开中小银行跨区域限制的同时必须保证足够数量的中小银行业机构,使银行市场保持适度的竞争;中小银行应更多立足本地,积极发挥对中小企业关系型贷款优势;大型银行发展中小企业贷款必须进行贷款技术创新,以降低对中小企业交易型贷款成本。     

Does ICT adoption improve access to credit for small enterprises?

Using data at the bank–firm level collected through the 9th UniCredit Survey conducted in 2012 on a large sample of small businesses, we investigate the extent to which a large international bank offers better credit conditions to enterprises that use ICT more extensively. The results, which are robust to selection and endogeneity issues, show that banks tend to grant increasing volumes of credit to such enterprises. We interpret this evidence as the ceteris paribus effect of ICT adoption by small businesses on the quality of information transmitted to banks. Another possible interpretation is that banks consider ICT adoption as a signal of firms’ willingness to innovate. We also discuss implications concerning the key role that technology plays in changing the ‘arm’s length’ versus ‘relationship’ lending paradigms.     

The effect of stimulus policy on lending behavior and bank risk: Evidence from the Chinese banking sector

Considering China's stimulus policy in 2008 as a quasi-natural experiment, our study attempts to provide evidence to understand how expansionary monetary policy is likely to influence bank risk-taking in emerging markets, specifically in China. Using data on Chinese counties from 2006 to 2011, we theoretically discuss and empirically observe a positive relationship between the stimulus policy and bank risk-taking, as measured by nonperforming loans. Such a nexus stems from the negative effect of the stimulus policy on banks' lending standards and the positive effect on banks' credit support to small and medium sized enterprises. In addition, our study is enriched by estimating the moderating effects of bank capitalization based on the “risk-shifting” effect and “search for yield” effect caused by the stimulus policy. Specifically, we find important differences across banking groups, such that small and medium-sized banks with low capitalization increase their exposure to risk, while large state-owned banks with high capitalization notably reduce their risk tolerance. The results of this study may help to characterize monetary policy and macro prudential regulation, especially for emerging economies.     

Trustworthiness and interest rates: an empirical study of Italian SMEs

Trust is expected to reduce transaction costs and agency costs and thus influence the cost of credit for small businesses. Assessments of trustworthiness are based on the ability, benevolence and integrity of the owner manager. The study examines whether lending managers’ assessments of the trustworthiness of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner managers are associated with the interest rate charged. Data were obtained from a survey of lending managers from small banks in North East Italy. Control variables and a vector of trustworthiness factors were collected on a random sample of customers, resulting in data for 365 small firms (74% response rate). Multivariate regression analyses provided evidence of a negative association between trustworthiness and interest rates. Banks, owner managers, policy makers and researchers should recognise the potential of trust to influence lending decisions and behaviour.     

Does bank efficiency affect the bank lending channel in China?

This work examines the impact of bank efficiency on the bank lending channel in China. Using a sample of 148 Chinese banks over the period 2006–2017, we investigate how the reaction of the loan supply to monetary policy actions depends on a bank's efficiency. We find limited evidence that bank efficiency hampers the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. In addition, bank efficiency does favor the transmission of monetary policy for banks with low loan-to-deposit ratios. These results suggest that bank efficiency may influence the bank lending channel in certain cases.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Interest Rates in Ghana

ABSTRACT

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of the bank lending rate in Ghana using annual time series data from 1970 to 2013. We found evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the average lending rate charged by commercial banks and its determining factors. In the long run, bank lending rates in Ghana are positively influenced by nominal exchange rates and Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy rate but negatively with fiscal deficit, real GDP and inflation. We also find positive dependence of the bank lending rate on exchange rates, and the monetary policy rate both in the short and long run. Specifically, our findings reveal that the Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy rate and the exchange rate, by far, show strong contemporaneous effects on the average bank lending rate in Ghana.     

Asymmetric changes in Australia’s small business loan rate

This paper examines the dynamic asymmetric relationship between changes in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash rate and the interest rate for small business loans using monthly data (1990–2011). The results provide support for the rockets-and-feathers hypothesis with respect to both the amount and adjustment asymmetries. While the RBA’s rate rises exert a one-to-one and instantaneous impact on the loan rate, its rate cuts are only slowly and partially passed onto small businesses with a delay of 1–2 months. The results also suggest that the recent global financial crisis increased the cost of borrowing for small businesses in Australia by 2.21 %. These findings indicate that small businesses have limited time to respond to interest rate rises and not provided with the full benefit of interest rate decreases. Addressing this problem should ease the interest rate burden for small businesses and enhance their contribution to the economy.     

Small Firm Finance, Credit Rationing, and the Impact of SBA-Guaranteed Lending on Local Economic Growth

Increasingly, policymakers look to the small business sector as a potential engine of economic growth. Policies to promote small businesses include tax relief, direct subsidies, and indirect subsidies through government lending programs. Encouraging lending to small business is the primary policy objective of the Small Business Administration (SBA) loan-guarantee program. Using a panel data set of SBA-guaranteed loans, we assess whether or not SBA-guaranteed lending has an observable impact on local economic performance. We find a positive and significant (although economically small) relationship between the relative levels of SBA-guaranteed lending in a local market and the future per capita income growth in that market.     

The bank–firm relationship during economic transition: The impacts on bank performance in emerging economies

We analyze the lending relationships between 1011 banks and 17,284 client borrowers across 11 emerging economies. We first demonstrate that a state-owned bank's risk appetite increases as its number of family business group-owned borrowing partners increases. Second, we show that a non-financial firm-owned bank's risk appetite also increases as its number of family business group-owned borrowing partners increases. Finally, we show that a bank is more likely to reduce its risk appetite and improve its operational cost efficiency as its foreign ownership ratio increases, regardless of the bank's lending partner. These findings suggest that, in the post-privatization period, the ownership structure changes of banks and/or borrowers affect the lending relationship and the bank's risk appetite and cost efficiency.     

Impact of the Community Reinvestment Act on New Business Start‐Ups and Economic Growth in Local Markets*

Economic growth in the United States has historically bypassed many minorities and low‐income communities. Some researchers and community advocates assert that the deterioration of these communities is in part caused by financial institutions' redlining and neglect. To rectify the situation, the government introduced the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for the purpose of encouraging banks and saving institutions to become more socially responsible and help meet the credit needs of communities in which they are located. The CRA was the government's response to bank lending discrimination. However, when passing the Act, Congress was equally concerned with reversing or at least halting disinvestment from inner‐city communities and in turn revitalizing local economies. Many believe that the availability of credit to establish, refinance, and improve small businesses is critical to the well‐being of local communities. Therefore, through the provision of small business loans, the CRA could be envisioned as a catalyst toward achieving that goal. Thus the aim of this paper is to investigate potential relationship between banks' CRA lending activities, and new business start‐ups and economic growth in local markets. The paper proposes that new start‐ups will have spillover effects that will consequently contribute to community development. After controlling for several potential variables that could have an impact on business start‐ups and community developments, the study found a strong positive effect. Beside its social and economic implications, the study also considered policy implications associated with the CRA regulation as a welfare improving initiative in low‐income communities. It offers ground for certain government intervention in the loan market.     

Bank lending channel in a dual banking system: Why are Islamic banks so responsive?

We examine the interest rate sensitivity of both deposits and credits at Islamic and conventional banks in Turkey. We find that the bank lending channel is especially operative for Islamic banks. Impulse responses for conventional and Islamic banks reveal that Islamic bank depositors’ sensitivity to policy rate changes is substantially larger than that of conventional bank depositors. Next to heavily dependence on deposit funding, we consider that inertia in Islamic bank deposit rates impedes these banks to keep those depositors who consider the opportunity cost of monetary policy rates is unbearable. On the lending side, we obtain similar results, implying that tight monetary policy leads to a larger contraction in Islamic bank credits. This finding is a reflection of the favourable attitude of Islamic banks towards small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) financing. When similar relationships are analysed for currency and inflation shocks, we again find larger responses for Islamic banks showing the cyclical nature of SME credits.     

What's in a relationship? The case of commercial lending

This article presents a survey and an analysis of the academic literature on relationship lending to small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is noted herein that relationship lending depends on soft (non-quantifiable) information, while other “lending technologies” depend on hard (quantifiable) information. Based on relative benefits and costs, relationship lending may be best suited for some types of SMEs, with alternate lending technologies better matched to others. Also discussed in this article are some interesting managerial and public policy issues. On the bank management dimension, relationship lending may create a special challenge for risk managers. On the public policy dimension, evidence suggests that relationship lending may be better delivered by smaller community banks; banking industry consolidation could, however, threaten the presence of such providers. Counter-intuitively, it is possible that banking industry competition may not be the best environment for relationship lending. Finally, this article highlights potentially interesting differences in the relative importance of relationship lending and the other lending technologies across countries with different financial architectures, and examines a potentially powerful link between relationship lending and monetary policy and other monetary shocks.     

Responsible Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries: Understanding the Realities and Complexities

Developing countries have recently experienced a burgeoning of small-scale individual entrepreneurs (SIEs) – who range from petty traders to personal service workers like small street vendors, barbers and owners of small shops – as a result of market-based reforms, rapid urbanisation, unemployment, landlessness and poverty. While SIEs form a major part of the informal workforce in developing countries and contribute significantly to economic growth, their potential is being undermined when they engage in irresponsible and deceptive business practices such as overpricing, sale of underweight or substandard products, or attempts to hoard goods, to name a few. Despite the growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of small businesses in developing countries, the SIEs have received almost no attention. To address this void in the literature, we explore the reasons for the less than optimal level of social responsibility demonstrated by some SIEs in developing countries. We do so by drawing upon the existing literature to develop a comprehensive framework of social responsibility of SIEs highlighting their unique characteristics and the different contextual factors that they encounter in developing countries. Based on this framework, we then present a set of propositions specifying the influence of these contextual factors such as business environment, cultural traditions, socio-economic conditions, and both international and domestic pressures on the business practices of SIEs. The framework offers an explanation for the lack of responsible entrepreneurship of SIEs and has important implications for promoting sustainable business practices in developing countries where businesses are striving hard to survive and compete.     

Institutional lending to knowledge-based businesses

Knowledge-based businesses (KBBs) are vital to economic development and revitalization in many regions, especially in areas that have experienced a decline in traditional industries. While much attention has been devoted to various aspects of traditional small firm financing, there is a paucity of empirical research to explain how new knowledge-based firms are externally financed. The current study researches institutional strategies, structures and risk assessment practices of chartered banks and government agencies in a peripheral region of Canada. It examines the extent to which these institutions have modified traditional lending approaches and practices to meet the needs of knowledge-based firms. The study explores the existence of institutional lending cultures through an empirical investigation of risk assessment practices employed by account managers.Two business proposals, one for a knowledge-based firm and one for a more traditional firm, were presented to account managers in chartered banks and government agencies for initial review and subsequent due diligence and risk assessment. Verbal protocols and interview data obtained at three stages of the due diligence process were analyzed using standard multivariate techniques and consensus analysis (CA). CA, a tool developed to measure cultural agreement in cognitive anthropology, was employed to assess the level of agreement among lenders with respect to risk assessment.Overall, the study findings confirm that specialized strategies, structures and processes for lending to KBBs are only partially developed, are still evolving and are considerably diverse in both the banking and government sectors. Furthermore, the level of agreement among lenders develops during the course of the due diligence process. Results confirm consensus and the existence of a lending culture sensitive to the needs of KBBs among a select but important subgroup, knowledge-based lending specialists. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for researchers, entrepreneurs in search of capital and policy makers seeking to develop new business opportunities for regional economic development.     

Small Business Credit Scoring and Credit Availability*

U.S. commercial banks are increasingly using small business credit‐scoring models to underwrite small business credits. The paper discusses this lending technology, evaluates the research findings on the effects of this technology on small business credit availability, and links these findings to a number of research and policy issues.     

Investigating the Impact of Firm Size on Small Business Social Responsibility: A Critical Review

The impact of smaller firm size on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is ambiguous. Some contend that small businesses are socially responsible by nature, while others argue that a smaller firm size imposes barriers on small firms that constrain their ability to take responsible action. This paper critically analyses recent theoretical and empirical contributions on the size–social responsibility relationship among small businesses. More specifically, it reviews the impact of firm size on four antecedents of business behaviour: issue characteristics, personal characteristics, organizational characteristics and context characteristics. It concludes that the small business context does impose barriers on social responsibility taking, but that the impact of the smaller firm size on social responsibility should be nuanced depending on a number of conditions. From a critical analysis of these conditions, opportunities for small businesses and their constituents to overcome the constraining barriers are suggested.Jan Lepoutre is a PhD candidate in Applied Economics at Ghent University, Belgium. His dissertation focuses on the competences associated with small business social responsibility.Aimé Heene is a professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ghent University, Belgium. He teaches strategic management for private and for public organizations and currently focuses his research on (competence-based) management in public and social profit organizations.     

Determinants of Federal Reserve lending to failed banks

Many of the banks that failed in the years 1985–1990 borrowed from the Federal Reserve for extended periods in their last year. This article tests hypotheses about the determinants of borrowings by banks that failed in these years. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that borrowings were greatest among the banks with the greatest liquidity needs in their last year. They do not support the hypothesis that the Fed favored member banks in its allocation of credit to troubled banks. The results indicate significant variation in lending practices across Federal Reserve districts, and there is weaker evidence of variation in lending practices across time.The rate of bank failure in the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s was high relative to failure rates in earlier decades. Many of the failed banks borrowed from the Federal Reserve for extended periods in their last year. Of the sample of failed banks in this study, 58% borrowed at some time in their last year, and 48% borrowed in their last three months. In most cases, the Federal Reserve would have been aware of the financial problems of these banks when lending to them, based on the supervisory ratings of the condition of the banks.Congress acted in 1991 to restrict Federal Reserve lending to undercapitalized banks, in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA). These restrictions were based on the view that Federal Reserve lending to undercapitalized banks increased the losses of the FDIC in bank failure cases.There was a lot of variation among the borrowers in terms of the length of time they borrowed and average borrowings relative to their total deposits. This variation makes it possible to test hypotheses about the borrowings of these banks near the time of their failure. One hypothesis is that the Federal Reserve made credit available to the troubled banks with the greatest liquidity needs. Banks with liquidity needs have exhausted most of their liquid assets, must draw down reserves to pay depositors who are withdrawing funds, and cannot raise funds in the private sector. Fed lending to the troubled banks with the greatest liquidity needs would have given supervisors time to determine which banks to close and the methods for resolving the failed bank cases.¹ Another hypothesis is that variation among the banks in the patterns of their borrowings reflected preferences of the Fed to aid some banks rather than others, such as banks that were members of the Federal Reserve System. Yet another hypothesis is that the variation in patterns of borrowings reflected differences in Fed practices across districts and across time in lending to troubled banks.Tests of these hypotheses do not indicate whether the practice of Federal Reserve lending to troubled banks was good policy.² These tests, however, may shed light on the factors that motivated the Fed to lend to troubled banks.     

Local Public Corruption and Bank Lending Activity in the United States

Using a conviction-based measure, we find that local (state-level) public corruption exerts a negative effect on the lending activity of US banks. Our baseline estimations show that the difference in public corruption between, for example, Alabama, where corruption is high, and Minnesota, where corruption is low, implies that banks headquartered in the former state grant 0.55% less credit (or $3.52 million for the average bank) ceteris paribus. Using proxies for relationship lending and monitoring, we also find that these bank characteristics weaken the negative effect of public corruption on lending. These results are robust to tests that address endogeneity, to the use of perception-based measures of corruption, and after controlling for credit demand conditions. In further analysis, we show that these effects are more evident for smaller banks and banks operating in a single state. These findings provide evidence that public corruption could facilitate information asymmetry in the lending market and, thus, could hinder local development by reducing bank credit.

     

The internationalization of new and small firms: A resource-based view

This paper seeks to enhance understanding of the internationalization of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study focuses upon the following issues: Can the characteristics of principal founders, businesses, and the external environment at one point in time be used to `explain' at a later date whether a firm is still an exporter or a nonexporter, whether exporting firms are larger in size than nonexporting firms, whether exporting firms report superior performance than nonexporting firms, and whether exporting firms are more likely to survive than nonexporting firms? To address these questions, this study draws upon a sample of 621 manufacturing, construction, and services businesses located in twelve contrasting environments in Great Britain surveyed first in 1990/91 and then re-interviewed in 1997.A resource-based view is reviewed to identify the range of factors encouraging some owner-managed SMEs to enter export markets. Four categories of human and financial capital are examined: general human capital resources, the principal founder's management know-how, the principal founder's specific industry know-how, and a principal founder's ability to obtain financial resources that can act as a buffer against random shocks. Variables relating to resource availability in the external environment were also collected and considered control variables. Previous studies have highlighted substantial industry differences in the propensity for businesses to enter export markets as well as to survive. The principal industrial activity of each business in 1990/91 was, therefore, considered a control variable.Variables collected during the 1990/91 survey were selected to explain variations in the propensity to export reported by surviving independent firms in 1997. After elimination of missing values, the working sample was reduced to 116 independent firms for this study (86 nonexporters and 30 exporters in 1997). In addition, the 21 variables were selected to explain variations in business size in 1997, profit performance relative to competitors reported in 1997, changes in employment over the 1990/91 to 1997 period, and business survival over the 1990/91 to 1997 period (213 survivors and 395 nonsurvivors).Multivariate statistical analysis confirmed that previous experience of selling goods or services abroad is a key influence encouraging firms to export. Businesses with older principal founders, with more resources, denser information and contact networks, and considerable management know-how are significantly more likely to be exporters. Further, businesses with principal founders that had considerable industry-specific knowledge are markedly more likely to be exporters. Businesses principally engaged in the service sectors and those located in urban areas are significantly less likely to be exporters.A key finding of this study is that the explanatory variables significantly associated with the propensity to export sales abroad are not the same as those significantly associated with selected size and performance measures. The resource-based explanatory variables selected fail to significantly detect employment-growing firms over the 1990/91 to 1997 period. They also fail to significantly distinguish surviving independent firms from nonsurviving firms.Results from this study will provide policy-makers and practitioners with additional insights into the key resource-based factors associated with the decision by new and small independent firms to export sales abroad. Practitioners and policy-makers can focus upon the characteristics of principal founders, businesses, and the external environment to predict the subsequent propensity of an independent firm to be an exporter. Policy-makers and practitioners who want more new and small firms to export outside their local areas may prefer to target their resources and assistance to the relatively smaller proportion of firms that have the business and principal founder profiles that are significantly associated with a firm being an exporter.