IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v60y2024ics1544612323012394.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Loan default predictability with explainable machine learning

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Huan
  • Wu, Weixing

Abstract

This paper studies loan defaults with data disclosed by a lending institution. We comprehensively compare the prediction performance of nine commonly used machine learning models and find that the random forest model has an efficient and stable prediction ability. Then, we apply an explainable machine learning method, i.e., SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), to analyze the important factors affecting loan defaults. Moreover, we conduct an empirical study and find that the significant influencing factors are clearly consistent with those suggested by SHAP: the older the lender and the longer their working experience, the lower the risk of loan default.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Huan & Wu, Weixing, 2024. "Loan default predictability with explainable machine learning," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s1544612323012394
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.104867
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612323012394
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.104867?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefania Albanesi & Domonkos F. Vamossy, 2019. "Predicting Consumer Default: A Deep Learning Approach," Papers 1908.11498, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2019.
    2. Wiginton, John C., 1980. "A Note on the Comparison of Logit and Discriminant Models of Consumer Credit Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 757-770, September.
    3. David B. Gross, 2002. "An Empirical Analysis of Personal Bankruptcy and Delinquency," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 319-347, March.
    4. Lane, Sylvia, 1972. "Submarginal Credit Risk Classification," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1379-1385, January.
    5. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    6. Bauer, Julian & Agarwal, Vineet, 2014. "Are hazard models superior to traditional bankruptcy prediction approaches? A comprehensive test," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 432-442.
    7. Bart Baesens & Rudy Setiono & Christophe Mues & Jan Vanthienen, 2003. "Using Neural Network Rule Extraction and Decision Tables for Credit-Risk Evaluation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(3), pages 312-329, March.
    8. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Andreas Fuster & Paul Goldsmith‐Pinkham & Tarun Ramadorai & Ansgar Walther, 2022. "Predictably Unequal? The Effects of Machine Learning on Credit Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 5-47, February.
    10. Rosett, Richard N & Nelson, Forrest D, 1975. "Estimation of the Two-Limit Probit Regression Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 43(1), pages 141-146, January.
    11. David Durand, 1941. "Risk Elements in Consumer Instalment Financing," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number dura41-1.
    12. Gao, Wei & Ju, Ming & Yang, Tongyang, 2023. "Severe weather and peer-to-peer farmers’ loan default predictions: Evidence from machine learning analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    13. Sigrist, Fabio & Hirnschall, Christoph, 2019. "Grabit: Gradient tree-boosted Tobit models for default prediction," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 177-192.
    14. Richard H. Thaler, 2016. "Behavioral Economics: Past, Present, and Future," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1577-1600, July.
    15. David Durand, 1941. "Risk Elements in Consumer Instalment Financing, Technical Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number dura41-2.
    16. Ma, Yuanyuan & Zhang, Pingping & Duan, Shaodong & Zhang, Tianjie, 2023. "Credit default prediction of Chinese real estate listed companies based on explainable machine learning," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Fernandes, Guilherme Barreto & Artes, Rinaldo, 2016. "Spatial dependence in credit risk and its improvement in credit scoring," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(2), pages 517-524.
    2. Igor Livshits & James C. Mac Gee & Michèle Tertilt, 2016. "The Democratization of Credit and the Rise in Consumer Bankruptcies," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(4), pages 1673-1710.
    3. Lili Li & Jun Yang & Xin Zou, 2016. "A study of credit risk of Chinese listed companies: ZPP versus KMV," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(29), pages 2697-2710, June.
    4. TOBBACK, Ellen & MARTENS, David, 2017. "Retail credit scoring using fine-grained payment data," Working Papers 2017011, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    5. Hoang, Daniel & Wiegratz, Kevin, 2022. "Machine learning methods in finance: Recent applications and prospects," Working Paper Series in Economics 158, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Management.
    6. Victor Olkhov, 2021. "Theoretical Economics and the Second-Order Economic Theory. What is it?," Papers 2112.04566, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    7. Alonso-Robisco, Andrés & Carbó, José Manuel, 2022. "Can machine learning models save capital for banks? Evidence from a Spanish credit portfolio," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Dimitrios Nikolaidis & Michalis Doumpos, 2022. "Credit Scoring with Drift Adaptation Using Local Regions of Competence," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 1-28, December.
    9. Fernandes, Guilherme Barreto & Artes , Rinaldo, 2013. "Spatial correlation in credit risk and its improvement in credit scoring," Insper Working Papers wpe_321, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
    10. Yang, Yingxu, 2007. "Adaptive credit scoring with kernel learning methods," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(3), pages 1521-1536, December.
    11. Seow Eng Ong & Davin Wang & Calvin Chua, 2023. "Disruptive Innovation and Real Estate Agency: The Disruptee Strikes Back," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 287-317, August.
    12. Freudenreich, Hanna & Musshoff, Oliver & Wiercinski, Ben, 2017. "The Relationship between Farmers' Shock Experiences and their Uncertainty Preferences - Experimental Evidence from Mexico," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 256212, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    13. Thomas Wainwright, 2011. "Elite Knowledges: Framing Risk and the Geographies of Credit," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(3), pages 650-665, March.
    14. Sigrist, Fabio & Leuenberger, Nicola, 2023. "Machine learning for corporate default risk: Multi-period prediction, frailty correlation, loan portfolios, and tail probabilities," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(3), pages 1390-1406.
    15. Heutel, Garth, 2019. "Prospect theory and energy efficiency," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 236-254.
    16. Tang, Lingxiao & Cai, Fei & Ouyang, Yao, 2019. "Applying a nonparametric random forest algorithm to assess the credit risk of the energy industry in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 563-572.
    17. Bogliacino, Francesco & Codagnone, Cristiano, 2021. "Microfoundations, behaviour, and evolution: Evidence from experiments," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 372-385.
    18. Nadia Ayed & Khemaies Bougatef, 2024. "Performance Assessment of Logistic Regression (LR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy System (ANFIS) in Predicting Default Probability: The Case of," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 64(3), pages 1803-1835, September.
    19. Pragati Hemrajani & Rajni & Rahul Dhiman, 2024. "Retail Investors’ Financial Risk Tolerance and Risk-taking Behaviour: The Role of Psychological Factors," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 13(1), pages 87-105, January.
    20. Harin, Alexander, 2019. "Forbidden zones for the expectations of measurement data and problems of behavioral economics," MPRA Paper 91368, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:eee:finlet:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s1544612323012394. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.