Lending Behavior Research Articles

Heterogenous impact of monetary policy on the Philippine rural banking system

This paper shows the differential impact of monetary policy on the lending behavior of rural banks, with the bank lending channel being operational in small rural banks. While big rural banks are able to protect their lending portfolio from contractionary monetary policy by the size of their balance sheet, small rural banks with less diversified funding portfolio cannot. Moreover, highly capitalized rural banks are more inclined to protect their capital than expand their lending portfolio, following monetary tightening and higher capital requirement. The insignificance of gross domestic product (GDP) growth may reflect weakness in effective loan demand and lack of diversification that could have also impinged on the earning capacity of rural banks, as supported by initial estimates on the drivers of rural bank profitability. The finding on heterogeneous effects of monetary policy on rural banks has a secondary implication of lending credence to the principle of proportionality embodied in the BSP’s bank regulatory framework.

Effect of Bank-Specific Factors on Non-performing Loans Among Commercial Banks in Tanzania

Objective –This paper examines the effect of bank-specific factors on non-performing loans in Tanzanian commercial banks (CBs).Design/methodology – Using annual data covering the period of 2011 -2020, a quantitative study methodology was employed. The authors used a one-step generalised method of moments (GMM) approach to estimate the effect of bank-specific factors on the percentage growth of NPLs in Tanzania.Results – According to the findings, increased return on assets, bank operating efficiency, income diversification, loan to-asset ratio in CBs reduces NPLs. In contrast, an increase in the deposit-to-asset ratio, capital adequacy, and age significantly increases the level of NPLs, which is consistent with the adverse selection theory. Conversely, decreased lag NPLs and raised bank operating efficiency will reduce the current year's NPL rate and vice versa.Research limitations/implications – Commercial banks should reduce the risk of defaulting borrowers by adjusting the contractual terms to the anticipated average quality of their applications. In addition, small banks should strive to maintain management efficiency to increase their profitability. Authorities should impose micro-prudential supervision on commercial banks' lending behaviour to reduce the number of NPLs.Novelty/Originality – The paper includes bank size (large and small banks) using both a one-step difference and a one-step system approach to measure the effect of bank-specific factors, which is usually not the case with most studies.

A Study of Banks’ Systemic Importance and Moral Hazard Behaviour: A Panel Threshold Regression Approach

This study has two objectives, first, to investigate if the lending behaviour of banks exhibits moral hazard in the Indian Banking Industry, and second, to investigate whether banks’ moral hazard behaviour changes when the systemic importance of the banks is taken into consideration. We studied banks’ moral hazard behaviour by observing the impact of their level of Net Non-Performing Loans (NNPL) on their lending behaviour. This study used threshold panel regression by using 1 year lagged values of NNPL as the threshold variable to find its endogenously determined value that impacts the lending behaviour of the banks. The 1 year lagged value of the NNPL (threshold variable) has been used to depict the level of distress faced by a bank. Assuming that loans may turn bad any year after they are granted, a banks’ lending behaviour has been shown through the relationship between various lags of Loan Growth Rate (LGR) and the contemporaneous values of Net Non-Performing Loans (NNPL). As per our analysis, the loan growth ratio raises NPLs with a relatively higher value when banks are experiencing prior sizable loan losses as compared to when banks are relatively safe, indicating moral hazard behaviour in the Indian banking industry. However, when the systemic importance of the bank is considered, the systemically important banks are found to be engaged in risky lending irrespective of their level of distress, whereas the opposite results are found for the least important banks.

Bank lending behaviour and macroeconomic factors: A study from strategic interaction perspective

This study investigates the moderating role of strategic interaction on the relationship between bank lending and macroeconomic factors, using panel data on Vietnamese commercial banks over 2008–2018. We find that the effect of macroeconomic and monetary policy shocks on bank lending behaviour is less pronounced when banks engage in a less competitively aggressive environment. The study contributes to the literature of bank lending by incorporating macroeconomic environment and micro (strategic interaction)-level to analyze the lending behaviour of an individual bank. Since the analysis of macroeconomic factors alone is insufficient to explain the aggregate relationships in the model of banking, understanding the nature of strategic interaction is essential to predetermine how bank lending behaviour relates to the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.

Does climate change affect bank lending behavior?

We examine how banks adjust credit supply in areas with higher exposure to climate risks by utilizing the province-level air pollution and loan growth data of a large emerging market, Turkey, following the Paris Agreement in 2015. Our results show that banks limit their credit extension to more polluted provinces in the post-agreement interval, implying that banks consider climate change-related risks and adjust their credit provisioning accordingly. Our baseline findings are intact against a myriad of robustness checks. We also find that the shift in the climate risk-credit provisioning nexus is asymmetric depending on the levels of air pollution. • In the Turkish banking sector, banks adjust credit allocation to provinces with air pollution following the Paris Agreement. • This behavior is not only limited to private banks but is also initiated by state-owned banking entities. • The shift in the association between climate risks and loan growth is stronger for commercial loans. • The relationship between climate risks and loan growth is asymmetric contingent on the level of air pollution.

Bank lending behaviour and small enterprise debt financing

PurposeThe reason for concern is the rapid decline in loans to small enterprises which is critical to their performance, compared to large businesses following the periods of banking reformations in Nigeria. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of risk perception on bank lending behaviour to small enterprises. It also investigates the impact of government intervention, consolidation and recapitalization on the relationship between risk perception and bank lending behaviour to small enterprise.Design/methodology/approachThis study empirically analysed (ordinary least square) secondary data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletins, Annual Statement of Accounts covering the period 1992–2020.FindingsThe results show that the absence of government interventions and the presence of banking reformations have statistically negative significant effect on bank lending to small enterprises. The findings challenge the argument that generally assumes risk aversion of banks towards small enterprise lending because of small enterprise’s inability to prove their credit worthiness and consequently constraining access to finance to the sector. Instead, the results and analysis from this study found theoretical support for the variation of bank behaviour in lending to small enterprises depending on the status of wealth of the financial system.Practical implicationsA key lesson from this study for government concerned about promoting performance of the small enterprise sector is that regulating and enforcing lending requirements on access to debt financing of the sector is necessary if constraints in access debt finance is to be eliminated. Second, while strategies such as bank consolidation, recapitalization may help strengthen and make financially robust the banking system; it places the banks in a gain position where losses looms to them than gain.Originality/valueThis study challenges the argument that generally assumes risk aversion of banks towards small enterprise lending as a result of inability to prove their credit worthiness and consequently constraining access to finance to the sector. Instead, the results and analysis from this study reveal a variation in lending to small enterprises and suggests that the position of the bank in relation to a reference point influences how risk is perceived by the bank and thus impacts on their risk decision-making behaviour.

The influence of the largest private shareholder on bank loans: Evidence from China.

We point out that the largest private shareholders can use their information advantage of the industry to influence banks’ industry lending behavior. Using a sample of Chinese city commercial banks, we find that increasing of ownership stake of the largest private shareholders leads banks to lend more to their industries. Interestingly, the largest state-owned shareholders do not have this effect. More importantly, we confirmed the channel of the information advantage by analyzing the bank’s industry NPL ratio and the listed company’s maximum loan amount in the bank. Of course, the effect of the largest private shareholders is achieved by intervening in board decisions. In addition, the ownership structure can influence this effect.

Bank size and the transmission of monetary policy: Revisiting the lending channel

We model how monetary policy shocks affect the lending behavior of small and large banks. Other things being equal, small banks are riskier than large banks since the latter are more likely to be bailed out. Thus, small banks face a higher cost of non-deposit financing and are unable to finance liquidity shocks at a cost below a certain threshold. Consequently, we show that under a tight monetary regime small bank lending is more sensitive to monetary shocks. This relation reverses under loose monetary regimes where large bank lending is more responsive to monetary shocks. Our empirical results strongly support our analysis.

Favoring the small and the plenty: Islamic banking for MSMEs

While MSMEs form the backbone of many countries, most of them suffer from limited access to finance. We extend the literature by examining whether Islamic banks, compared to their conventional peers, favor more the MSMEs credit market segment in Turkey. We do this by considering various aspects of the lending behavior towards MSMEs (total lending, foreign currency lending, loan commitments, loan quality, and revenues) across different MSMEs size categories (micro, small and medium-sized firms). Our results show that once we control for bank-specific characteristics, we find that Islamic banks are more engaged with MSME financing and generate more revenues from servicing MSMEs. Concerning the quality of the MSME lending portfolio, no distinguishable patterns were observed between Islamic and conventional banks.

Foreign bank lending: The role of home country culture during prosperous and crisis periods

We investigate whether a home country’s culture determines lending behavior of foreign bank subsidiaries in host countries during both prosperous and difficult economic periods. We employ a dataset of foreign-owned banks originating from 46 home countries and operating in 47 host countries during 1996–2018. The results show that, in general, only certain cultural dimensions of the home country influence the foreign bank subsidiaries’ lending. However, this impact strengthens significantly during crises.

Lender retention of online prosocial lending: a self-determination perspective

PurposeProsocial lending in online crowdfunding has flourished in recent years, and it has become a new way to fundraise for philanthropy. However, there is almost a 70% user attrition rate in crowdfunding. The purpose of this study is to understand what the lender’s lending experience and social connection influence lender retention of online prosocial lending from a self-determination perspective.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this research utilizes a quantifiable method for factors of the lender's lending experience and social connection. Additionally, the research constructs economic models to explore the impacts of these factors acting as the necessary conditions for basic psychological needs on lender retention, using a large-scale sample of over 380,000 lenders from Kiva.FindingsThe results indicate that, from the lender's lending experience aspect, the loan narratives with more profit language in the last lending and the failure of past participation are negatively related to lender retention. Regarding the lender's social connection aspect, their friends or small lending teams are positively related to lender retention, while whether they are invited and lending team size show negative influence. Furthermore, results indicate the moderating effects of the disclosure of lending motivation.Originality/valueThis research explores the mechanism of lender retention of online prosocial lending, providing a self-determination perspective about how previous experience influences long-term lending behavior. The study offers significant implications for the literature on online philanthropy, SDT and user retention of online platforms. At the same time, the study provides an understanding of the effects of different aspects of SDT.

Branch network structure, authority and lending behaviour

Using a novel dataset of Ukrainian banks, this paper examines the link between the structure of branch network and bank lending. Bank regional branches are categorised into contact points without loan decision-making authority and more independent delegated branches which can make loan decisions. We find that a large and dispersed network of contact points can help increase credit supply and mitigate risks through diversification. Further, banks benefit from the information advantage brought by the presence of delegated branches in local markets. However, the longer distance between headquarters and local delegated branches, the more amplified agency problems become, which outweighs the benefits. Our findings suggest that the optimal structure could be a centralised network of delegated branches combined with a diversified access point network.

Factors Influencing Bank Lending Behaviour in Tanzania A Case of Listed Banks in Tanzania

The study looked at bank and industry-specific factors that influence listed commercial banks’ lending behaviour in Tanzania for the five-year period from 2016 to 2020. Asset quality, capital adequacy, liquidity, and bank size were employed as bank-specific factors, whereas Gross Domestic Product and inflation rate were used as industry-specific factors. To establish the cause and effect relationship between the response and explanatory variables, the study used an explanatory research design. Secondary data were extracted from seven listed commercial banks’ audited financial statements for a five year period, totalling 35 data points. After performing pre-regression analysis (multicollinearity test), correlation and linear analysis were conducted. From 2016 to 2020, the study discovered that capital adequacy and bank size have the biggest impact on Tanzanian listed commercial banks’ lending behaviour. At 5 per cent level, other explanatory variables such as asset quality, liquidity, GDP growth rate, and inflation rate were insignificant. Thus, the study concludes that capital adequacy and bank size influence the lending behaviour of the listed commercial banks in Tanzania from 2016 to 2020. The research was limited to seven Tanzanian listed commercial banks from 2016 to 2020. Regardless of their capital adequacy or size, the banks should lend cautiously. This is because, in today’s intensely competitive business, if larger banks with massive capital lend irresponsibly, they are likely to collapse. Finally, the study results demonstrated that the bank size and capital adequacy influence the lending behaviour of the listed commercial banks’ in Tanzania

Do partisan politics influence domestic credit?

AbstractLeft-leaning and right-leaning governments hold opposing views on economic policy, resulting in disparities in economic behaviours and outcomes. Given this context, we explore the effect of political ideology on domestic credit using an unbalanced panel data of 29 countries from 1960 to 2014. Our empirical analysis shows that left-leaning governments reduce total domestic credit allocations. Also, we find that right-leaning governments provide more credit to the private sector, while left-leaning governments prefer to boost domestic credit to the public sector. In a further analysis, we show that political parties and their domestic credit strategies remain unchanged even during electoral periods. Our novel insights, that are robust to alternative measures, samples, and a set of econometric identifications, contribute to the literature on partisan politics and lending behaviour.

Banking uncertainty and lending: does bank competition matter?

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the link between uncertainty in banking and bank lending behavior, particularly shedding light on the modifying role of bank competition in the nexus.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a panel of Vietnamese banks over the 2007–2019 period for empirical analysis and the dispersion of shocks to bank-level variables to measure banking uncertainty. To strongly confirm our findings, the authors perform a battery of alternative checks based on different econometric techniques, including fixed effect regressions with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, the two-step system generalized method of moments estimator and the least squares dummy variable-corrected estimator.FindingsUncertainty induces multifaceted unfavorable impacts on bank lending. Concretely, banks tend to restraint loan growth, suffer more credit risk, and charge higher lending rates during periods of higher uncertainty. Further investigation reveals that lending activities of banks with greater market power are less sensitive to adverse uncertainty shocks; in other words, increased competition in the banking system is associated with more substantial consequences of uncertainty on bank lending.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to simultaneously explore the impacts of uncertainty on quantity, quality and prices of bank lending. This paper also aim at putting forth the level of uncertainty particularly related to the banking sector. Importantly, examining the conditionality of the linkage between uncertainty and bank lending with respect to bank competition is entirely novel.

Evergreening

We develop a simple model of relationship lending where lenders have incentives for evergreening loans by offering better terms to less productive and more indebted firms. We detect such lending behavior using loan-level supervisory data for the United States. Low-capitalized banks systematically distort firms’ risk assessments to window-dress their balance sheets. To avoid further reductions in their capital ratios, such banks extend relatively more credit to underreported borrowers. We incorporate the theoretical mechanism into a dynamic heterogeneous-firm model to show that evergreening affects aggregate outcomes, resulting in lower interest rates, higher levels of debt, and lower productivity.

Neither true nor fairweather friend: relationship banking and SME borrowing under Covid-19

A growing literature addresses the costs and benefits associated with relationship banking, particularly for smaller firms, but with much of this work focused on normal trading conditions. Covid-19 provides an ideal testbed to explore the resilience of relationship banking. We examine whether the presence of closer pre-Covid ties between SMEs and their banks helps in accessing funds in the Covid-19 pandemic period. Then are ties between relationship bankers and SME borrowers a case of ‘true love’ or rather are the parties more akin to ‘fair-weather friends?’ Data from the UK SME Finance Monitor from 2018Q2-2020Q3 is used in this paper to examine this question. Our analysis suggests that relationship banking was important for the acquisition of bank credit pre-Covid-19 but was of limited influence in post-Covid-19 lending behaviour. Banks treated SMEs that had a good relationship with them in the same way as those that did not and with public interventions to support lenders material in this.

The Lending Behavior of Investment and Development Banks in Turkiye: Evidence from Quantile Regression Approach

The major aim of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the lending behavior of 14 investment and development banks in Turkiye is responsive to different quantiles of selected three core variables (i.e., (i) non-performing loans/total cash loans ratio (%), (ii) net profit/equity ratio (%), and (iii) liabilities/equity ratio (%)) for the period between 2005/January and 2020/December. The estimation of a change in the degree of lending behavior, proxied by total loans/total assets ratio (%), is stimulated through an endogenous model where different quantile regression models are performed to examine the miscellaneous relationship among the selected variables and to correct potential diagnostic problems stemming from the endogeneous regressors in the panel data analysis. The empirical results imply that there are two fundamental outputs produced in regression analyses: On the one hand, the lending behavior is affected only by the nonperforming loans/total cash loans ratio with a negative coefficient sign and the liabilities/equity ratio with a positive coefficient sign, mostly at the lowest quantiles. On the other hand, the highest quantiles showed that the coefficients of these variables are insignificant. In addition, the net profit/equity ratio is only significant with a negative coefficient sign in limited quantiles. This means that there is a mild heterogeneity of statistically significant variables across different quantiles where the lowest quartile of lending behavior of investment and development banks is not confronted with the higher level of financial activities.

Asset Commonality and Credit Expansion by Banks in Pakistan

Purpose: Diversification by the majority of the banks in a system contribute to the progression of systemic risk on one hand and affects the lending behaviors of the banks on the other. Since lending behaviors of the banks directly affect the availability of credit to the non-financial sector, the situation may worsen, as a consequence of systemic risk. In this study, we examine the relationship between asset commonality and credit expansion by commercial banks in Pakistan.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: We use post-global financial crisis data ranging from 2011-2020. A dynamic model is employed with a two-step system GMM technique to control for the problems of autocorrelation and endogeneity, as indicated by the pre-diagnostic tests.
 Findings: Our results show that asset commonality significantly affects credit expansion by banks in Pakistan. Moreover, the direction of the relationship is negative implying that the asset commonality of the banks in Pakistan, induces banks on the individual level to contract credit to the non-financial sector.
 Implications/Originality/Value: The findings are helpful for policymakers to devise and implement a prudent regulatory framework for the monetary sector, by not only targeting risk indicators of the financial sector but also keeping in view its repercussions to the real sector of the economy.

Housing Price Risks and Lending Behavior of Banks before and after the 2008 Financial Crisis

As a large volatility in asset values can negatively affect collateral values and increase the likelihood of defaults by loan borrowers, facing high price risks in real-estate markets, banks need to lower risk exposures and reduce loans. However, our analysis of US commercial banks shows that banks in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with higher housing price risks make more real estate loans, especially to construction loans before the 2008 financial crisis. After the crisis, banks have changed such lending behaviors and made less loans. While increasing their loans in markets with high risks, banks do not prepare for more reserves for loan losses in the pre-crisis period. Our results suggest that banks with higher housing price risks have taken excessive risks before the 2008 crisis.