Are the Funding Strategies and Bank Risk Different in Greenfield and Takeover Banks? Evidence from Foreign Banks in Bulgaria

Abstract

This paper examines the implications of entry mode and funding strategy for bank risk using data on foreign banks in Bulgaria from April 2004 to March 2014. We find that the two types of foreign entry modes - greenfield and takeover - differ in terms of funding strategy, particularly with regard to reliance on wholesale funding. Taken together with the influence of bank funding structure on risk, this heterogeneity, with respect to funding strategy, leads to different levels of default risk between the two entry modes. This finding suggests that the entry mode has an indirect effect on the increasing vulnerabilities of foreign banks, with the effect occurring through the funding strategy. Moreover, we confirm the existence of a close link between the mode of foreign entry and bank risk, even when controlling for funding strategy. We interpret this as evidence of a direct effect of entry mode on the risk of foreign banks in the host country, independent of funding structure.