Bank Relationships: A Review

Abstract

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on bank relationships. We begin with the event study evidence on bank loan announcements and trace our way forward through an overview of papers discussing the benefits and costs of bank relationships. We follow with a review of the evidence on the nature and strength of bank relationships, covering such topics as duration, scope, control, and number of bank relationships. We also discuss the importance of bank relationships for aggregate economic activity.