When arm's length is too far: Relationship banking over the credit cycle

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Beck, Thorsten; Degryse, Hans; De Haas, Ralph; van Horen, Neeltje
• 署名单位: City St Georges, University of London; KU Leuven; European Bank of Reconstructon & Development; European Central Bank; De Nederlandsche Bank NV; Tilburg University; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Bank of England
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2017.11.007
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 174-196
• 关键词: Relationship banking; credit constraints; Credit cycle

摘要

We conduct face-to-face interviews with bank chief executive officers to classify 397 banks across 21 countries as relationship or transaction lenders. We then use the geographic coordinates of these banks' branches and of 14,100 businesses to analyze how the lending techniques of banks near firms are related to credit constraints at two contrasting points of the credit cycle. We find that while relationship lending is not associated with credit constraints during a credit boom, it alleviates such constraints during a downturn. This positive role of relationship lending is stronger for small and opaque firms and in regions with a more severe economic downturn. Moreover, relationship lending mitigates the impact of a downturn on firm growth and does not constitute evergreening of loans. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.