Bank Lending Practices Research Articles

The OCC's Examiner Survey of Credit Underwriting Practices: A New Quantification Scheme, and a Comparison with the Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Survey

Consumer lending continues to grow in importance for the banking industry, and consumer lending practices continue to make headlines, attracting the attention of consumer groups as well as policymakers, including in particular several Congressional committees. In this environment, supervisory authorities continue to hone their insights into the nature and consequences of consumer lending. Many different sources of information can aid in achieving this goal. This Staff Report focuses on information that has perhaps been underutilized: the OCC’s annual Survey of Credit Underwriting Practices (“Examiner” survey). One purpose of this paper is to explain how the analytical value of the Examiner survey can be enhanced via the application of a simple indexing scheme. The indexing scheme is patterned directly on that employed by the Federal Reserve for the quantification of information collected and published in its quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (“Senior Loan Officer”survey). The second purpose of this Staff Report is to demonstrate the value of the indexing scheme by comparing the OCC’s Examiner survey with the Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer survey. The focus in particular is on the credit card underwriting portions of both surveys; in effect, the comparison is between bankers’ perspectives (from the Federal Reserve survey) and examiners’ perspectives (from the OCC survey). Such a comparison is useful to ascertain the degree to which there is consistency between bankers’ and examiners’ perspectives.

Investor behaviour in a nascent capital market: Scottish bank shareholders in the nineteenth century

This article uses the records of nineteenth‐century Scottish banks in an attempt to understand investor behaviour in the early British capital market. It presents four main findings, some of which do not conform to the basic assumptions of standard asset pricing theories. First, in an era when efficient portfolio diversification was not possible, the intrinsic risk of an equity security was an important input into investor decision‐making. Second, our evidence suggests that businesspeople initially regarded bank stock as a consumption good, as being a stockholder gave them privileged access to bank finance. When bank lending practices changed in the middle of the century, this access‐to‐credit advantage associated with owning bank stock largely disappeared. Third, investors typically exhibited a bias towards banks that conducted business in the areas where they resided. Fourth, a sizeable proportion of investors were stockholders in more than one bank.

Credit Conditions and Expected Stock Returns

We analyze U.S. stock return predictability using a measure of credit standards (Standards) derived from the Federal Reserve Board's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices. Standards is a strong predictor of stock returns at a business cycle frequency, especially in the post-1990 data period. Empirically, a tightening of Standards predicts lower future stock returns. Standards performs well both in-sample and out-of-sample and is robust to a host of consistency checks. Standards captures stock return predictability at a business cycle frequency and is driven primarily by the ability of Standards to predict cash flow news.

Does Secondary Loan Market Trading Destroy Lenders’ Incentives?

In this paper we investigate whether the secondary market trading of syndicated loans compromises the quality of bank lending practices. We compare the performance of borrowers of traded loans following the initial trading event against the performance of borrowers of nontraded loans following loan issuance. We also investigate whether the relative performance of traded versus non-traded loans varies with the reputation of the lead arranger of syndication and with loan purpose. We measure performance by borrowers’ accounting performance and default risk. For loans originated by reputable lead arrangers, we find evidence that borrowers of traded loans actually perform better than borrowers of non-traded loans do. Thus, loan sales appear to have a positive effect on reputable arrangers’ incentives to monitor and screen borrowers. For loans originated by lower reputation lead arrangers, we find some evidence that the performance of borrowers of traded loans is worse than that of borrowers of non-traded loans and that borrowers of traded loans engage in earnings management behavior. These results are consistent with breakdowns in due diligence by non-reputable arrangers on loans anticipated to be sold. We also document that restructuring purpose loans (loans with a primary purpose of takeover, LBO, MBO or recapitalization) perform worse relative to other loans, regardless of whether or not they are traded.

The Effects of Underwriting Practices on Loan Losses: Evidence from the FDIC Survey of Bank Lending Practices

Purpose – This chapter investigates the influence of bank loan underwriting practices on loan losses and identifies potential determinants of lending practices for five categories of loans: business, consumer, commercial real estate, home equity, and construction and land development loans. Methodology/approach – Using data on the riskiness of lending practices obtained from the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) bank examiner surveys from January 1996 to March 2009, I fit a two-step treatment effects model to measure the effects of underwriting practices on loan losses, controlling for the potential endogeneity of lending practices. Findings – In the selection step, I find that for business loans, the likelihood that bank management will adopt low-risk lending practices increases with bank financial performance and management quality hierarchical complexity and decreases with market competition. Results for the selection of lending practices for consumer loans and three categories of real estate loans are similar to those found for business loans but show weaker statistical relationships to all explanatory variables. In the loss determination step, I find that lower (higher) risk underwriting practices are generally associated with lower (higher) gross loan charge-offs (as percentage of gross loans and leases) for five categories of loans: business, consumer, commercial real estate, home equity, and construction and land development loans. Originality/value of chapter – This is the first study to model the determinants of loan underwriting practices with the practices being characterized in terms of their risk to the bank. In addition, this is the first study to consider the effects of the riskiness of lending practices on loan losses, controlling for the endogeneity of practices.

Bank Regulations and Loan Contracts

This study examines empirically how bank regulations adopted in lender countries influence the characteristics of loan contracts, using a sample of 46,453 loans made by 278 large commercial banks around 39 countries, to borrowers in 83 countries, in the period from 1998 to 2006. Our findings indicate that the stringency of capital regulations have an inverse U-shaped relationship with priced risk characteristics (spread and maturity) of loan contracts. In addition, more powerful official supervision is associated with riskier loan contracts. Both official supervisory power and private monitoring work as substitutes to capital regulation to reduce the (priced) risk measures of loan contracts when capital stringency is low. For higher capital stringency, supervision and private monitoring complement capital regulation in reducing loan contracts risk measures. Finally, we found that a country’s degrees of legal enforcement and bank industry competition complement capital and private monitoring regulations to improve risk characteristics of loan contracts. The evidence highlights the importance of how bank lending practices are affected by bank regulations and their interactions with themselves and other institutional country factors.

Development of the Commercial Banking System in Afghanistan: Risks and Rewards

Lending practices of commercial banks in Afghanistan were analyzed using CAMEL ratings. Statistically significant correlations were found: Banks with worse ratings (a) had more lending to domestic clients and (b) paid less tax. There was no statistically significant relationship between profits and total assets or between lending/assets versus profit/assets. Interviews of senior management of 8 banks accounting for about 90 percent of the commercial banking system corroborated evidence that poorly rated banks lend to domestic clients, whereas highly rated banks do not lend. Banks that lend extensively domestically engage in extra-judicial, non-traditional contract enforcement.

Development of the Commercial Banking System in Afghanistan: Risks and Rewards

Lending practices of commercial banks in Afghanistan were analyzed using CAMEL ratings. Statistically significant correlations were found: Banks with worse ratings (a) had more lending to domestic clients and (b) paid less tax. There was no statistically significant relationship between profits and total assets or between lending/assets versus profit/assets. Interviews of senior management of 8 banks accounting for about 90 percent of the commercial banking system corroborated evidence that poorly rated banks lend to domestic clients, whereas highly rated banks do not lend. Banks that lend extensively domestically engage in extra-judicial, non-traditional contract enforcement.

Bank size and lending relationships in Japan

Current theoretical and empirical research suggests that small banks have a comparative advantage in processing soft information and delivering relationship lending. The most comprehensive analysis of this view found using US data that smaller SMEs borrow from smaller banks and smaller banks have stronger relationships with their borrowers [Berger, A.N., Miller, N.H., Petersen, M.A., Rajan, R.G., Stein, J.C., 2005. Does function follow organizational form? Evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks. J. Finan. Econ. 76, 237–269]. We employ essentially the same methodology as Berger et al. on a unique Japanese data set and find results that are quite interesting from an international comparison point of view. We find, like Berger et al. in the US, that larger firms tend to borrow from larger banks, and that smaller banks have stronger relationships with their borrowers. However, additionally we find that the former result is not due to larger firms being more transparent in terms of their financial statements. These results imply that although small banks' comparative advantage in relationship lending is likely to be universal, large banks may not necessarily have a comparative advantage in extending transactions-based lending. J. Japanese Int. Economies 22 (2) (2008) 242–267.

Financing decisions during different economic periods: evidence from Indonesia and Malaysia

This paper analyses the influence of economic fluctuations on the financing decisions of companies from Indonesia and Malaysia from 1996 to 2005. Our results show that companies with better access to external capital and those that adjust their financial structures faster outperform other companies. In both countries, monetary policy measures appear to be hampered by domestic bank lending practices, capital control measures and the underdevelopment of capital markets. The future development of capital markets and the abolishment of capital control measures, thus, appear to be important issues to increase the efficiency of monetary policy measures in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Does function follow organizational form? Evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks

Theories based on incomplete contracting suggest that small organizations have a comparative advantage in activities that make extensive use of “soft” information. We provide evidence consistent with small banks being better able to collect and act on soft information than large banks. In particular, large banks are less willing to lend to informationally “difficult” credits, such as firms with no financial records. Moreover, after controlling for the endogeneity of bank-firm matching, we find that large banks lend at a greater distance, interact more impersonally with their borrowers, have shorter and less exclusive relationships, and do not alleviate credit constraints as effectively.

International Real Estate Review

This paper examines the link between nonperforming loans, real estate prices, and the banking system. We found that the level of nonperforming loans affects bank profitability as well as the price performance of real estate markets. We also analyzed the factors that cause the ratio of nonperforming loans to total loans to fluctuate. We observed that a higher ratio of corporateloans to individual loans results in a lower percentage of nonperforming loans. In contrast, a lower real estate lending rate relative to the primary lending rate leads to a higher percentage of nonperforming loans. These results suggest that the percentage of nonperforming loans can be partially governed by the lending practices of banks.

Does Function Follow Organizational Form? Evidence from the Lending Practices of Large and Small Banks

Theories based on incomplete contracting suggest that small organizations may do better than large organizations in activities that require the processing of soft information. We explore this idea in the context of bank lending to small firms, an activity that is typically thought of as relying heavily on soft information. We find that large banks are less willing than small banks to lend to informationally difficult credits, such as firms that do not keep formal financial records. Moreover, controlling for the endogeneity of bank-firm matching, large banks lend at a greater distance, interact more impersonally with their borrowers, have shorter and less exclusive relationships, and do not alleviate credit constraints as effectively. All of this is consistent with small banks being better able to collect and act on soft information than large banks.

The “Asian economic miracle” unmasked

The onset of the 1997 Asian financial crisis took the world by surprise. Its severity and the alarming speed at which it spread sent shock waves around the world. There is still no consensus as to the real causes of this catastrophe although a steep fall in export demand with exchange rates pegged to an appreciating US dollar clearly caused current account deficit problems, which were exacerbated by imprudent bank lending and debt management practices. The economies of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and the Philippines were vulnerable to speculative runs on their currencies and rapid foreign investment repatriation with a collapse of investor confidence. It soon became evident that globalisation has its downside for economies unable to withstand the massive capital surges caused by hedge fund manipulation.

Robert Torrens and the Evolution of the Real Bills Doctrine

In the current era of quantity theorists and inconvertible currencies, the real bills doctrine has received a surprising amount of recent attention (e.g., Sargent and Wallace, 1982; Smith, 1988; Selgin, 1989; Cunningham, 1992). While the real bills doctrine has a long history, the doctrine underwent considerable evolution during the period from the Bullionist debates of the Restriction Period, 1797–1819, to the Banking School versus Currency School debates surrounding the introduction of Peel's Act in 1844. The debates of the Restriction period are significant for being directly concerned with the workings of an inconvertible, real-bills-based paper currency while the later debates involved the real bills doctrine under convertibility. A primary objective of this paper is to explore the views that Robert Torrens held concerning the inconvertible and convertible versions of the real bills doctrine as a rule for central bank policy. Torrens's contributions as an anti-bullionist and, later, as a leading member of the Currency School reflect the importance that both convertibility and bank lending practices have for interpreting the real bills doctrine and the related law of reflux. The apparently paradoxical evolution of Torrens's monetary thought identified by Lionel Robbins (1958) is attributed primarily to the evolution of his views on bank lending practices.

Bank Lending to Minority and Low-Income Households and Neighborhoods: Do Community Reinvestment Agreements Make a Difference?

ABSTRACT:This article marks a new direction in research on the Community Development Act (CRA) by examining the outcomes of CRA agreements, comparing the mortgage and home improvement lending of banks with and without agreements. The analysis examines Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for all the states and metropolitan areas with CRA agreements in effect and compares mortgage and lending to low-income and minority households and neighborhoods by banks with and without agreements and by banks with different types of agreements. Banks with CRA agreements appear to be more responsive than other banks to the credit needs of minority and low-income households and neighborhoods, especially when independent mortgage banks, which are not subject to the CRA, are removed from the analysis. Few significant differences, however, were found in the lending practices of banks with different types of agreements, including banks with negotiated and voluntary agreements.

Recent Changes to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Terms of Business Lending

The Federal Reserve's quarterly Survey of Terms of Business Lending, which has been conducted for more than twenty years, collects information on interest rates and other characteristics of commercial bank business loans. The survey has been changed from time to time to recognize innovations in bank lending practices and to improve the measurement of the desired information. The most recent changes took effect with the May 1997 survey. The major improvement was the addition of an item measuring loan risk. In addition, the reporting panel, which had been limited to domestically chartered commercial banks was expanded to include a sample of U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, which now account for a significant proportion of business lending to U.S. firms. This article discusses the most recent changes made to the survey and presents some information now available from the new items being reported. It also summarizes information about the use of loan risk ratings from consultations conducted with a sample of the survey respondents during the process of planning the revisions to the survey.

The UK clearing banks and the informal venture capital market

Changes in the macroeconomy, combined with changes in bank lending practices, have created a more difficult financing environment for small businesses in the UK in the 1990s. Notes increasing encouragement for small businesses to seek venture capital as an alternative, but points out evidence both of a lack of venture capital for firms seeking less than £500,000 and a belief that small firms are unwilling to seek venture capital. Challenges these views and points out the advantages to the banks of an informal venture capital market. Considers ways for banks to encourage such activity.

Commercial Bank Lending Practices and the Development of Black Owned Construction Companies

ABSTRACT: Although the construction industry has been a tremendous growth industry for black entrepreneurs in recent years, black owned construction firms, on average, are less than half as large as those owned by nonminorities. Previous findings suggest that limited access to financial capital, particularly bank loans, has restricted the size of black owned businesses. Examination of nationwide random samples of construction companies reveals that black firms are treated differently by commercial banks than nonminority companies that have otherwise identical traits. Undercapitalization, in turn, is shown to increase the likelihood of firm discontinuance. Alleviation of undercapitalization problems would promote the development of black owned businesses in the construction industry.

‘No Arbitrary Discretion’: Specialisation in Short-Term Commercial Lending by Banks in Late Nineteenth-Century New England

In the late nineteenth century banks in New England embraced an increasingly specialised role in the economy, focusing on the provision of short-term loans to commercial borrowers and eschewing long-term relations with industrial enterprises. This drive to specialise resulted from a particular combination of circumstances: a tremendous expansion in the number of banks, and an equally dramatic rise in deposits as a source of lendable funds. The latter development incresed the interdependence of the banking system, making each institution vulnerable to runs provoked by the unsound practices of its competitors. The former made it difficult to regulate the lending practices of individual banks. By promoting strict standards for short-term commercial loans, bank reformers sought to increase the ablity of directors and stockholders to monitor the decisions of their banks' managers and, at the same time, to limit the damage to the system that unscrupulous bankers could inflict. Similar problems of control arose ...