Research on the Impact of Market Competition on the Operating Performance of Rural Commercial Banks—Path Inspection Based on Intermediate Business

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, the degree of competition in rural financial markets has been exacerbating, forcing rural commercial banks to start transforming the business, which has a great impact on their business performance. Based on the data of 48 rural commercial banks in China from 2012 to 2018, this paper analyzes the path of the influence of market competition on the performance of rural commercial banks by using mediating effect model; and divides the rural commercial banks into developed and underdeveloped areas according to the GDP level, and then analyzes the influence of market competition on the performance of rural commercial banks and heterogeneity of mediating effect at Intermediate level of business, which enriches the existing research. This study found that market competition significantly weakens the performance of rural commercial banks, the mediating effect of intermediate business level exists, and there are differences among regions: for the underdeveloped areas, the enhancement of market competition reduces its negative impact on the performance of rural commercial banks by improving the level of intermediate business; while in developed regions, the enhancement of market competition further weakens the performance of rural commercial banks.KeywordsBankingCompetitionPerformance