IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecnote/v49y2020i2ne12159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Will FinTech make regional banks superfluous for small firm finance? Observations from soft information‐based lending in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Franz Flögel
  • Marius Beckamp

Abstract

Regional banks have a competitive advantage in that short distances to clients enable the use of soft information for superior lending decisions. If the ambition of FinTech start‐ups to create superior screening and monitoring technologies materialises, this advantage would be diminished and regional banks would become superfluous for small firm finance. To explore this claim, the paper in hand analyses qualitative empirical data about the lending processes and rating system use of regional German savings banks. In essence, the results from participant observation and interviews clarify the importance of “real” soft information for critical lending decisions. The context specificity and limited verifiability of “real” soft information hamper it from being hardened through the use of rating systems and other bank‐ICT. Though FinTech's scoring technologies may overcome the first limitation, it appears likely that in the course of scoring development “real” soft information will be systematically crowded out due to the manipulation problem. The paper expects improved access to finance for SMEs if FinTech solutions overcome both limitations of “real” soft information use, or if peer‐to‐peer lending and regional banks coexist. Deteriorated access to finance is expected if FinTech companies displace the relationship banking of regional banks due to enhanced competition, without preserving the advantages of “real” soft information with superior screening and monitoring technologies. The paper concludes with recommendations on how to prevent deteriorated access to finance for small firms by promoting fair competition and FinTech innovations.

Suggested Citation

  • Franz Flögel & Marius Beckamp, 2020. "Will FinTech make regional banks superfluous for small firm finance? Observations from soft information‐based lending in Germany," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 49(2), July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecnote:v:49:y:2020:i:2:n:e12159
    DOI: 10.1111/ecno.12159
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecno.12159
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecno.12159?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shannon Mudd, 2013. "Bank Structure, Relationship Lending and Small Firm Access to Finance: A Cross-Country Investigation," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 149-174, October.
    2. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1995. "The Effect of Credit Market Competition on Lending Relationships," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 407-443.
    3. Rajkamal Iyer & Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Erzo F. P. Luttmer & Kelly Shue, 2016. "Screening Peers Softly: Inferring the Quality of Small Borrowers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1554-1577, June.
    4. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    5. Dorfleitner, Gregor & Priberny, Christopher & Schuster, Stephanie & Stoiber, Johannes & Weber, Martina & de Castro, Ivan & Kammler, Julia, 2016. "Description-text related soft information in peer-to-peer lending – Evidence from two leading European platforms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 169-187.
    6. Pietro Alessandrini & Michele Fratianni & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "The Changing Geography of Banking and Finance: The Main Issues," Springer Books, in: Alberto Zazzaro & Michele Fratianni & Pietro Alessandrini (ed.), The Changing Geography of Banking and Finance, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 1-11, Springer.
    7. Pietro Alessandrini & Andrea F. Presbitero & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "Global banking and local markets: a national perspective," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(2), pages 173-192.
    8. Tobias Berg & Manju Puri & Jorg Rocholl, 2013. "Loan officer Incentives and the Limits of Hard Information," NBER Working Papers 19051, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Stefano Filomeni & Gregory F. Udell & Alberto Zazzaro, 2016. "Hardening Soft Information: How Far Has Technology Taken Us?," CSEF Working Papers 455, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    10. Berger, Allen N. & Miller, Nathan H. & Petersen, Mitchell A. & Rajan, Raghuram G. & Stein, Jeremy C., 2005. "Does function follow organizational form? Evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 237-269, May.
    11. Neil Lee & Ross Brown, 2017. "Innovation, SMEs and the liability of distance: the demand and supply of bank funding in UK peripheral regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 233-260.
    12. Ayadi, Rym & De Groen, Willem Pieter, 2014. "Banking Business Models Monitor 2014: Europe," CEPS Papers 9713, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    13. Behr, Patrick & Norden, Lars & Noth, Felix, 2013. "Financial constraints of private firms and bank lending behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3472-3485.
    14. Luca Papi & Emma Sarno & Alberto Zazzaro, 2017. "The geographical network of bank organizations: issues and evidence for Italy," Chapters, in: Ron Martin & Jane Pollard (ed.), Handbook on the Geographies of Money and Finance, chapter 8, pages 156-196, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Andreas Hackethal & Reinhard H. Schmidt & Marcel Tyrell, 2006. "The transformation of the German financial system," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 116(4), pages 431-456.
    16. Ross Levine, 1997. "Financial Development and Economic Growth: Views and Agenda," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 688-726, June.
    17. Tianshu Zhao & Dylan Jones-Evans, 2017. "SMEs, banks and the spatial differentiation of access to finance," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 791-824.
    18. Allen Berger & Adrian Cowan & W. Frame, 2011. "The Surprising Use of Credit Scoring in Small Business Lending by Community Banks and the Attendant Effects on Credit Availability, Risk, and Profitability," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 1-17, April.
    19. Ferri, Giovanni & Murro, Pierluigi & Peruzzi, Valentina & Rotondi, Zeno, 2019. "Bank lending technologies and credit availability in Europe: What can we learn from the crisis?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 128-148.
    20. repec:elg:eebook:16021 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Ron Martin & Jane Pollard (ed.), 2017. "Handbook on the Geographies of Money and Finance," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16607.
    22. Alberto Zazzaro & Michele Fratianni & Pietro Alessandrini (ed.), 2009. "The Changing Geography of Banking and Finance," Springer Books, Springer, edition 1, number 978-0-387-98078-2, April.
    23. Sumit Agarwal & Robert Hauswald, 2007. "Distance and information asymmetries in lending decisions," Proceedings 1052, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    24. Thomas Philippon, 2016. "The FinTech Opportunity," NBER Working Papers 22476, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Jose M. Liberti & Atif R. Mian, 2009. "Estimating the Effect of Hierarchies on Information Use," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 4057-4090, October.
    26. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    27. Reinhard H. Schmidt, 2009. "The Political Debate about Savings Banks," Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr), LMU Munich School of Management, vol. 61(4), pages 366-392, October.
    28. Alexander Conrad & Alexander Hoffmann & Doris Neuberger, 2018. "Physische und digitale Erreichbarkeit von Finanzdienstleistungen der Sparkassen und Genossenschaftsbanken [Physical and digital accessibility of financial services at savings and cooperative banks]," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 38(2), pages 255-284, October.
    29. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    30. Buchak, Greg & Matvos, Gregor & Piskorski, Tomasz & Seru, Amit, 2018. "Fintech, regulatory arbitrage, and the rise of shadow banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 453-483.
    31. Uchida, Hirofumi & Udell, Gregory F. & Watanabe, Wako, 2008. "Bank size and lending relationships in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 242-267, June.
    32. Levine, Ross, 2005. "Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 865-934, Elsevier.
    33. Gregory F. Udell, 2009. "Financial Innovation, Organizations, and Small Business Lending," Springer Books, in: Alberto Zazzaro & Michele Fratianni & Pietro Alessandrini (ed.), The Changing Geography of Banking and Finance, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 15-26, Springer.
    34. Boot, Arnoud W. A., 2000. "Relationship Banking: What Do We Know?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 7-25, January.
    35. Marcello Pagnini & Paola Rossi & Valerio Vacca & Johann Burgstaller, 2017. "Dynamics of Retail-Bank Branching in Austria," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 46(3), pages 527-554, November.
    36. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    37. Jeremy C. Stein, 2002. "Information Production and Capital Allocation: Decentralized versus Hierarchical Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 1891-1921, October.
    38. Tobias Berg & Valentin Burg & Ana Gombović & Manju Puri, 2020. "On the Rise of FinTechs: Credit Scoring Using Digital Footprints," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(7), pages 2845-2897.
    39. Daniela Gabor & Sally Brooks, 2017. "The digital revolution in financial inclusion: international development in the fintech era," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 423-436, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mustafa Raza Rabbani & Abu Bashar & Iqbal Thonse Hawaldar & Muneer Shaik & Mohammed Selim, 2022. "What Do We Know about Crowdfunding and P2P Lending Research? A Bibliometric Review and Meta-Analysis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Asror Nigmonov & Syed Shams, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic risk and probability of loan default: evidence from marketplace lending market," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Franz Flögel, 2018. "Distance and Modern Banks’ Lending to SMEs: Ethnographic Insights from a Comparison of Regional and Large Banks in Germany," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 35-57.
    2. Flögel, Franz & Gärtner, Stefan, 2018. "Bankensysteme aus raumwirtschaftlicher Perspektive," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 099, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    3. Flögel, Franz & Gärtner, Stefan, 2018. "The banking systems of Germany, the UK and Spain form a spatial perspective: The German case," IAT Discussion Papers 18/04, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    4. Franz Flögel & Stefan Gärtner, 2020. "The COVID‐19 Pandemic and Relationship Banking in Germany: Will Regional Banks Cushion an Economic Decline or is A Banking Crisis Looming?," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 111(3), pages 416-433, July.
    5. Flögel, Franz, 2016. "Distance and Modern Banks' Lending to SMEs: Decentralised versus Centralised Banking in Germany," IAT Discussion Papers 16/01, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    6. Gärtner, Stefan & Flögel, Franz, 2014. "Call for a Spatial Classification of Banking Systems through the Lens of SME Finance - Decentralized versus Centralized Banking in Germany as an Example," IAT Discussion Papers 14/01, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    7. Sutherland, Andrew G., 2020. "Technology is changing lending: Implications for research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    8. Marko Jakšič & Matej Marinč, 2019. "Relationship banking and information technology: the role of artificial intelligence and FinTech," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(1), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Ferri, Giovanni & Murro, Pierluigi, 2015. "Do firm–bank ‘odd couples’ exacerbate credit rationing?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 231-251.
    10. Gärtner, Stefan & Flögel, Franz, 2014. "Call for a Spatial Classification of Banking Systems through the Lens of SME Finance - Decentralized versus Centralized Banking in Germany as an Example," EconStor Preprints 97512, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    11. Flögel, Franz & Gärtner, Stefan, 2018. "Regionale Banken erhalten, aber wie? Bankensysteme in Spanien, Deutschland und Vereinigtem Königreich im Vergleich," Forschung Aktuell 04/2018, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    12. Flögel Franz & Schepelmann Philipp & Zademach Hans-Martin & Zörner Michael, 2024. "Injecting climate finance into SME lending in Germany: Opportunities for and limitations of regional savings and cooperative banks," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 68(2), pages 111-123.
    13. Liberti, José & Sturgess, Jason & Sutherland, Andrew, 2022. "How voluntary information sharing systems form: Evidence from a U.S. commercial credit bureau," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 827-849.
    14. José María Liberti & Mitchell A. Petersen, 2018. "Information: Hard and Soft," NBER Working Papers 25075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Porzio, Claudio & Sampagnaro, Gabriele & Verdoliva, Vincenzo, 2020. "Lost in Translation: The determinants and the effect of soft information dispersion in bank lending," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    16. Flögel, Franz & Hejnová, Tereza, 2021. "The effects of regional banks on economic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis a cross-country comparison of the European countries," IAT Discussion Papers 21/01, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    17. Simon Cornée, 2014. "Soft Information and Default Prediction in Cooperative and Social Banks," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 3(1), pages 89-103, June.
    18. Berger, Allen N. & Boot, Arnoud W.A., 2024. "Financial intermediation services and competition analyses: Review and paths forward for improvement," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    19. Cerqueiro, Geraldo & Degryse, Hans & Ongena, Steven, 2011. "Rules versus discretion in loan rate setting," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 503-529, October.
    20. Uchida, Hirofumi & Udell, Gregory F. & Yamori, Nobuyoshi, 2012. "Loan officers and relationship lending to SMEs," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 97-122.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecnote:v:49:y:2020:i:2:n:e12159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0391-5026 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.