Banking Market Concentration Research Articles

Concentrated bank market and SMEs’ collateral issues: a study of the firms of developing Asian countries

Collateral is a significant challenge for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in acquiring formal credit. Bank market concentration can cause to increase collateral demand through enhancing bank market power. This study explores the relationship between bank market concentration and the collateral challenges faced by SMEs in accessing bank credit by employing a probit regression model. The analysis utilizes a sample of over 25,000 firms from 19 developing Asian nations. The datasets combine firm-level data sourced from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) with country-level financial data obtained from the Global Financial Development Data (GFDD) which are provided by the World Bank. The results reveal a significant positive correlation between bank market concentration and the collateral challenges encountered by SMEs in developing Asian countries. In markets characterized by high levels of banking concentration, financial institutions tend to exhibit risk-averse behavior, manifesting in an increased propensity to demand collateral for both SME and large enterprise loans. Consequently, this heightened bank concentration exerts additional pressure on SMEs in acquiring bank credit. To foster an environment conducive to SME financing, countries with high levels of banking concentration should enact regulatory measures aimed at managing and constraining market concentration levels.

Merger And Sharia Banking Market Concentration in Indonesia

Merger And Sharia Banking Market Concentration in Indonesia

The impact of market concentration and market power on banking stability – evidence from Europe

PurposeAcademic research has intensively analyzed the relationship between market concentration or market power and banking stability but provides ambiguous results, which are summarized under the concentration-stability/fragility view. We provide empirical evidence that the mixed results are due to the difficulty of identifying reliable variables to measure concentration and market power.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from 3,943 banks operating in the European Union (EU)-15 between 2013 and 2020, we employ linear regression models on panel data. Banking market concentration is measured by the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), and market power is estimated by the product-specific Lerner Indices for the loan and deposit market, respectively.FindingsOur analysis reveals a significantly stability-decreasing impact of market concentration (HHI) and a significantly stability-increasing effect of market power (Lerner Indices). In addition, we provide evidence for a weak (or even absent) empirical relationship between the (non)structural measures, challenging the validity of the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm. Our baseline findings remain robust, especially when controlling for a likely reverse causality.Originality/valueOur results suggest that the HHI may reflect other factors beyond market power that influence banking stability. Thus, banking supervisors and competition authorities should investigate market concentration and market power simultaneously while considering their joint impact on banking stability.

The ramification of competition and concentration on bank risk-taking behavior and stability: corroboration from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

PurposeThe study investigates the impact of competition and concentration on bank risk-taking behavior and stability in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region.Design/methodology/approachData from 100 banks from 2013 to 2021 was analyzed using dynamic and static measures by using dynamic system GMM.FindingsResults showed that higher competition reduces stability, while concentration in the banking sector produces stability and reduces risk-taking behavior. The findings suggest that regulatory agencies should take different actions based on the degree of banking market concentration to enhance banking sector stability in the SAARC area.Practical implicationsThe research helps regulators and decision-makers establish capital requirements at levels that would prevent banks from increasing their risk-taking in order to boost profits and, therefore, reduces hazardous practices that might increase the risk.Originality/valueThe research helps establish capital requirements to prevent banks from increasing risk-taking to boost profits and avoid hazardous practices that could increase nonperforming loans and bank failure risks.

Relationship Lending, Banking Market Concentration and Capital Structure of Small Businesses

Relationship Lending, Banking Market Concentration and Capital Structure of Small Businesses

Bank market power and financial reporting quality

Joining the debate on the banking sector's impact on the real economy, this study examines the impact of banks' market power on local businesses' financial reporting quality. Based on the market power hypothesis and the information-based hypothesis, we propose four ways the banking market could affect the financial reporting quality. The proposed mechanisms suggest that borrowers and bank lenders face increased market power by implementing different earnings management and monitoring practices. Our documentary evidence suggests that since the banking market deregulation, restrictions on inter- and intra-state banking and branching have been removed, with banks gaining more power and the market becoming more consolidated. Using a large sample of U.S. listed firms from 1995 to 2019, we find a favourable impact of bank market power on corporate financial reporting quality, primarily driven by heightened monitoring by banks with greater market power, supporting the monitoring-stringent conjecture. In addition, this positive relationship is more pronounced among firms heavily reliant on local banks. Our results are robust to a rich set of tests, such as using alternative measurements for financial reporting quality and bank market power, including macroeconomic factors, and considering drastic changes in the bank market structure. We also address the endogeneity concerns and test the robustness of our key findings in a loan syndication setting. Our research suggests that facing increased bank market concentration and power, firms must pay additional attention to their financial reporting, which is widely used to access external finance.

Competition and Stability in the European Union Banking Sector

This paper empirically tests the two competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between competition and stability: the competition-fragility hypothesis and the competition-stability hypothesis. The banking sector stability is proxied with the estimated Z-score, which provides a measure of overall bank stability. Two different measures are used to represent bank competition: the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (a specific measure of market concentration) and the Boone indicator (which measures competition from an efficiency perspective). Using data from the Moody’s Analytics BankFocus database and the World Bank Global Financial Development database, the paper applies panel estimations to a relatively large panel, including 784 relevant banks from all 27 European Union countries, between 2006 and 2021. The main findings overall confirm the validity of the competition-fragility hypothesis. Moreover, the results obtained for two specific European Union countries, Germany and France, highlight some specific differences, particularly regarding the effects of bank market concentration and the responses to the crises that affected the European Union banking institutions over the considered period. The findings of this paper reinforce the relevance of the policy maker’s role and indicate, for example, that bank market competition in the European Union is probably already sufficiently high and should not be reinforced, as overall, the increase in bank competition seems detrimental to the stability of European Union banking institutions.

Banking system stability in the MENA region: the impact of market power and capital requirements on banks’ risk-taking behavior

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of capital requirements and bank competition on banks' risk-taking behavior in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.Design/methodology/approachThe study combines both descriptive and analytical approaches. It considers panel data sets and adopts panel data econometric techniques like fixed effects/random effects and generalized method of moments estimator.FindingsRegulatory capital and market competition have different effects according to the bank’s type (Islamic or conventional). The results show that the capital adequacy ratio has a significant impact on the credit risk of conventional banks (CBs) while this effect is irrelevant for Islamic banks (IBs). However, market competition plays a significant role in shaping risk-taking behavior of Islamic banking institutions. Our results indicate that banks with strong market power may pursue risky strategies in the face of increased regulatory pressure (e.g. increased minimum capital requirements). The results were robust to alternative profitability measures and endogeneity checks.Research limitations/implicationsThe most important limitation is the lack of data for some banks and years, and this paper had to exclude some variables because of missing observations. The second limitation concerns the number of IBs in the sample. However, this can be overcome by including more countries from MENA and other regions where Islamic banking is a growing phenomenon.Practical implicationsOur findings call for a change in Islamic banking’s traditional business model based on the prohibition of interest. The analysis indicates that market concentration moderates the association between capital requirements and the insolvency risk of IBs but not CBs. Therefore, regulatory authorities concerned with improving financial stability in the MENA region should set up their policies differently depending on the level of banking market concentration. Finally, bank managers are requested to apply a more disciplined approach to their lending decisions and build sufficient capital conservation buffers to limit the impact of downside risk from the depletion of capital buffers during the pandemic.Originality/valueThis study addresses banks’ risk-taking behavior and stability in the MENA region, which includes banks of different types (Islamic and conventional). This paper also contributes to the literature on bank stability by identifying the most critical factors that affect bank risk and stability in the MENA region, which can be relevant in the context of the new global (COVID-19) crisis.

The Influence of Bank Performance, Market Condition and Economic Growth on Non-Performing Loans

The paper contributes to the literature on the determinants of non-performing loans by applying panel fixed effects and dynamic Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimations to a relatively large panel of 80 countries over the period 1999-2017. The paper considers three categories of explanatory variables; bank-level, industry-level, and macroeconomic-level. The bank-level variables highlight the relevance of bank profitability and efficiency to avoid non-performing loans. The industry-level variables, for the entire period and particularly after the onset of the Global Financial Crisis (years 2009-2017), show that bank market concentration promoted non-performing loans, while bank market competition and bank stability did not contribute to increasing non-performing loans. The macroeconomic-level variable, real per capita gross domestic product, provides very convincing evidence that promoting economic growth looks like the best way to avoid non-performing loans. Analyses with different sub-samples show that the determinants of non-performing loans are not particularly dependent on the level of income of the country.

Efficiency, market concentration and bank performance during the COVID-19 outbreak: Evidence from the MENA region.

This study aims to contribute to the existing literature that explores the impact of market concentration on bank efficiency in emerging economies. Using a sample of 225 banks in 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over the period 2006-2020, we empirically investigate the significance of this relationship. Since the evidence of concentration effect on efficiency during the COVID-19 outbreak is ambiguous, we test the hypothesis that the efficiency is positively affected by the level of banking market concentration in the MENA region. We adopt fixed effect model specifications and test the robustness of our results with the two-step Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique. Our analysis finds a strong positive association between market concentration and bank efficiency. The analysis of different types of banking systems that co-existing in the MENA region (Islamic and conventional) indicates the market concentration effect is more pronounced when the banking institution is Islamic and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, the better economic performance of Islamic banks during the initial stage of pandemic further increases their efficiency. Our analysis indicated that the impact of market competitive conditions on bank efficiency varies significantly across banks with different ownership structures and is more pronounced for government-owned banks. The results are robust using different model specifications and alternative estimation techniques.

Assessment of the Deadweight Loss Arising from the Imperfect Competition in the Banking Market

Financial market failures lead to deadweight (welfare) loss for society. Assessment of the deadweight loss started with the so-called Harberger Triangles, where Harberger offered a clear and persuasive derivation of the triangle method of analysing the deadweight loss and applied the method to estimate deadweight losses due to income taxes in the United States. Hertog further put the deadweight loss into the model with government intervention to assess the optimal level of welfare loss control. This concept is central to regulatory economics. Harberger’s approach is based on the deviation of market equilibrium measured in terms of price and quantity. When analysing imperfect competition as one of the market failures, authors have identified in the literature variables for “price” and “quantity”. The research presents the approach how calculating the deadweight loss arising from the imperfect competition using the following variables: “price” – interest rates (loans), “quantity” – exposure of loans on banks’ balance sheets. The outcome of the research is integral for the assessment of the deadweight loss arising from imperfect competition. Deadweight loss calculations for selected countries show results corresponding to the expectation to be lower than 12% - the maximum value is 4,6% for Latvia, which experienced the most significant increase in the banking market concentration from the sample. Research methods used: literature analysis, regression analysis, and mathematical analysis tools (integrals).

Determinante bankarskog kreditiranja malih i srednjih preduzeća u EU

This study examines factors that influence bank lending to SMEs in the EU. We employ relevant firm-, industry-, and macro-level variables to confirm the significance of bank lending process determinants through multiple panel data models. We find that increase in GDP p.c., number of bank branches, banking market concentration, support measures, repayment in event of bankruptcy and shorter resolving time positively impact SMEs access to loans. SMEs with higher turnover and working in construction or manufacturing sectors have a better chance to obtain bank loans, while access to bank financing is negatively affected by increase in inflation rate and operations in service sector.

Why Local Banking Market Concentration Hinders IPOs and How It Can Work to Issuers’ Advantage

Why Local Banking Market Concentration Hinders IPOs and How It Can Work to Issuers’ Advantage

HOW BANKING MARKET COMPETITION AND BANK RELATIONSHIPS AFFECT SMALL FIRM LIQUIDITY

This article aims to investigate the effects of relationship banking and banking market rivalry on small firm liquidity. Our major objective is to determine how bank market concentration and relationship banking affect the three crucial acts of small business liquidity (cash funds, line-ups of credit, and employment credit), both separately and collectively. Due to their significance for small firm ’s profitability, value, and sustainability, we concentrate on cash assets (Harford et al., 2008; Mach and Wolken, 2011). Despite this, there have been just two prior studies of small firm cash holdings that we are aware of (Garca-Teruel and Martnez-Solano, 2008; Faulkender, 2002). Likewise, even though credit lines remain also a shared source of small firm liquidness (Sufi, 2009), previous findings have normally aimed on credit line practice by large businesses (Acharya et al., 2013).

Banking infrastructure and the Paycheck Protection Program during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the US federal government distributed US$800 billion in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small businesses to preserve employment. Since PPP funding was transmitted through private banks, the characteristics of the regional banking market may have unevenly affected the programme’s reach. This paper examines how variations in market concentration and the presence of community banks contributed to PPP disbursement in US counties. It finds that greater regional banking market concentration correlates with fewer PPP loans, but this negative relationship is mitigated by a greater presence of community banks in highly concentrated markets.

Industry Market Structure and Banking Performance in Indonesia

After the economic crisis, Indonesian banks began to compile the Indonesian Banking Architecture to design the Indonesian banking system. Banks mostly have a motive to increase their market share by increasing the amount of third-party funds and the amount of credit extended, thus changing the character of the banking market structure in Indonesia. This research measures the effect of performance as reflected in the level of bank profitability in relation to the market structure by assuming that these conditions are influenced by internal (Asset Liability Management) and market factors. Bank market concentration is measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. This research concludes that the Indonesian banking industry has a monopolistic market structure. The effect of bank market concentration, capital ratio, and liquidity ratio are positive and significant on bank performance. Conversely, the credit risk ratio has a negative effect on banking performance. Received: 31 August 2021 / Accepted: 11 February 2022 / Published: 5 March 2022

Competition, concentration and default-risk in the Indian banking industry

PurposeThe study investigates the impact of bank market competition and concentration on the bank default-risk using the data for 36 Indian scheduled commercial banks from 1999 to 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts the dynamic panel generalised method of moments (GMM) and panel quantile models to obtain the results.FindingsBank market competition and concentration foster financial fragility in terms of high default-risk. This implies that concentration does not mean a lack of competition in the Indian banking market. The findings from the quantile model reveal that the stated relationships become weaker under the tails of the conditional distribution of the risk measure.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors recommend that non-structural measures (Lerner index and H-statistic) should be preferred over the concentration measures (HHI and CR3) to characterise bank market competition in India. Based on the evidence of persistence in the bank risk variable, from the methodological perspective, dynamic panel data models are better choices for bank-level analyses compared to the conventional panel data models.Practical implicationsTo improve the health of banks, price competition should be reduced among them. This objective should be achieved by creating new avenues to increase the banks' non-interest income parallelly with the consolidation of the market.riginality/valueFirst, it tries to answer whether concentration implies a lack of competition for a banking system like India. Second, the quantile regression technique enables us to understand the varying nature of the impact of market competition on bank risk at different locations on the latter's conditional distribution. Earlier studies have not looked at these aspects in the Indian context.

Regulation, banking competition and risk-taking behavior in the MENA region: policy implications for Islamic banks

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of regulation and market competition on the risk-taking Behaviour of financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical framework is based on panel fixed effects/random effects specification. For robustness purpose, this study also uses the generalized method of moments estimation technique. This study tests the hypothesis that regulatory capital requirements have a significant effect on financial stability of Islamic and conventional banks (CBs) in the MENA region. This study also investigates the moderating effect of market power and concentration on the relationship between capital regulation and bank risk.FindingsThe estimation results support the view that capital adequacy ratio (CAR) has no significant impact on credit risk of Islamic banks (IBs), whereas market competition does play a significant role in shaping the risk behavior of these institutions. This study report opposite results for CBs – an increase in the minimum capital requirements is followed by an increase in a bank’s risk level, which has a negative impact on their financial stability. Furthermore, the results support the notion of a non-linear relationship between banking concentration and bank risk. The findings inform the regulatory authorities concerned with improving the financial stability of banking sector in the MENA region to set their policy differently depending on the level of concentration in the banking market.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the literature on the effectiveness of regulatory reforms (in this case, capital requirements) and market competition for bank performance and risk-taking. In regard to IBs, capital requirements are less effective in requiring IBs to adjust their risk level according to the Basel III methodology. This study finds that IBs’ risk behavior is strongly associated with market competition, and therefore, the interest rates. Moreover, banks operating in markets with high banking concentration (but not necessarily, low competition), will decrease their credit risk level in response to an increase in the minimum capital requirements. As a result, these banks will be more stable compared to their conventional peers. Thus, regulators and policymakers in the MENA region should restrict the risk-taking behavior of IBs through stringent capital requirements and more intense banking supervision.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of these findings are that the regulatory authorities concerned with improving banking sector stability in the MENA region should proceed differently, depending on the level of banking market concentration. The findings inform regulators and policymakers to set capital requirements at levels that would restrict banks from taking more risk to increase their returns. They are also important for bank managers who should avoid risky strategies in response to increased regulatory pressure (e.g. increase in the minimum required capital level of 8%), as they may lead to an increase in the level of non-performing loans, and therefore, a greater probability of bank default. A future extension of this study will focus on testing the effect of bank risk-taking and market competition on the capitalization levels of banks in the MENA countries. More specifically, this study will investigates if banks raise their capitalization levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThe analysis of previous research indicates that there is no unambiguous answer to the question of whether IBs perform differently than CBs under different competitive conditions. To fill this gap, this study examines the influence of capital regulation and market competition (both individually and interactively) on bank risk-taking behavior using a large sample of banking institutions in 18 MENA countries over 14 years (2005–2018). For the first time in this line of research, this study shows that the level of market power is positively associated with the level of a bank’ insolvency risk. In others words, IBs operating in highly competitive markets are more inclined to take a higher risk than their conventional peers. Regarding the IBs credit risk behavior, this study finds that market power has a limited impact on the relationship between CAR and risk level. This means that IBs are still applying in their operations the theoretical models based on the prohibition of interest.

Concentration-stability vs concentration-fragility. New cross-country evidence

Does concentration in the banking sector boost banks’ resilience, or make them more fragile? We propose an analysis of the simultaneous impact of several mediators of concentration on the stability of the banking sector. Results from a sample of world economies observed from 1997 to 2015 support the hypothesis that the impact of mediators is non-linear and depends on the level of concentration. If concentration is at about 50% or lower, increasing concentration improves the stability of the banking sector via profitability. If concentration is at 65% or above, increasing concentration further makes the banking system more fragile because of the mediating effects of credit risk, diversification, and ease of monitoring. For intermediate levels of concentration, the impact of the competing moderators cancels each other out. If aggregated upon concentration, these non-linearities give rise to a non-monotonic impact of concentration on the stability of banks. We thus contribute novel insights into the complex nexus between banking market concentration and financial stability. Further, we add to the policy debate by finding that an intermediate level of concentration is optimal from the policymakers’ perspective.

Exploring the Main Effect of e-Banking on the Banking Industry Concentration Degree on Predicting the Future of the Banking Industry: A Case Study

Today, regarding the rapid growth of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), e-commerce, and the subsequent expansion of electronic banking, the banking market structure is also expected to dramatically be changed. This paper aims to explore the main effect of electronic banking on the structure of the Iranian banking industry by investigating the banking market concentration degree. To accomplish this aim, an intelligent hybrid model is developed based on multilayer perceptron neural network and fuzzy regression of the effects of banking on the relative electronic share of banks. In the developed method, the neural network parameters such as weights and errors have been considered as the fuzzy parameters to model it under uncertainty. Ultimately, the descriptive statistics are utilized to evaluate how the difference in relative size of banks concerning e-banking has changed, in addition to exploring the main effect of e-banking on the bank’s contribution described as a neural network-fuzzy regression model. Moreover, it shows how the concentration degree in the Iranian banking sector has been reduced. The implemented analysis of the reasons for this decrease reveals that the share of banks has decreased due to an increase in the share of the small banks. Furthermore, model estimation confirms that there exists a positive relationship between banks’ share and the use of electronic banking. Besides, the small banks have strongly been shown to utilize the e-banking so that it would lead to an increase in their share and a decrease in the concentration degree. As such, it can be concluded that e-banking has reduced the concentration degree in Iran. The descriptive statistics are employed to prove it.