When Arm's Length Is Too Far. Relationship Banking Over the Business Cycle

58 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2014 Last revised: 3 Jan 2017

See all articles by Thorsten Beck

Thorsten Beck

City University London - The Business School; Tilburg University - European Banking Center, CentER

Hans Degryse

KU Leuven - Faculty of Business and Economics (FEB)

Ralph De Haas

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); KU Leuven

Neeltje van Horen

Bank of England; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 4 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 1, 2017

Abstract

We conduct face-to-face interviews with bank CEOs to classify 397 banks across 21 countries as either relationship or transaction lenders. We then use the geographic coordinates of these banks’ branches and of 14,100 businesses to analyze how the lending techniques of banks in the vicinity of firms are related to credit constraints at two contrasting points of the credit cycle. We find that while relationship lending is not associated with credit constraints during a credit boom, it alleviates such constraints during a downturn. This positive role of relationship lending is stronger for small and opaque firms and in regions with a more severe economic downturn. Moreover, our evidence suggests that relationship lending mitigates the impact of a downturn on firm growth and does not constitute evergreening of loans.

Keywords: Relationship banking, credit constraints, business cycle

JEL Classification: F36, G21, L26, O12, 016

Suggested Citation

Beck, Thorsten and Degryse, Hans and De Haas, Ralph and van Horen, Neeltje, When Arm's Length Is Too Far. Relationship Banking Over the Business Cycle (January 1, 2017). Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2467029 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2467029

Thorsten Beck (Contact Author)

City University London - The Business School ( email )

106 Bunhill Row
London, EC1Y 8TZ
United Kingdom

Tilburg University - European Banking Center, CentER ( email )

PO Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

Hans Degryse

KU Leuven - Faculty of Business and Economics (FEB) ( email )

Naamsestraat 69
Leuven, B-3000
Belgium

Ralph De Haas

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( email )

One Exchange Square
London, EC2A 2JN
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: www.ebrd.com

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

KU Leuven

Naamsestraat 69
Leuven, B-3000
Belgium

Neeltje Van Horen

Bank of England ( email )

Threadneedle Street
London, EC2R 8AH
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/research/Researchers/neeltje-van-horen

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

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