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Specialization in Banking

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Abstract

Using highly detailed data on the loan portfolios of large U.S. banks, we document that these banks "specialize" by concentrating their lending disproportionately into one industry. This specialization improves a bank’s industry-specific knowledge and allows it to offer generous loan terms to borrowers, especially to firms with access to alternate sources of funding and during periods of greater nonbank lending. Superior industry-specific knowledge is further reflected in better loan and, ultimately, bank performance. Banks concentrate more on their primary industry in times of instability and relatively lower Tier 1 capital. Finally, specialization counteracts a well-documented trend in reduced lending by large banks to opaque small and medium-sized enterprises.

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  • Kristian S. Blickle & Cecilia Parlatore & Anthony Saunders, 2021. "Specialization in Banking," Staff Reports 967, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fednsr:91629
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    Cited by:

    1. Iñaki Aldasoro & Sebastian Doerr & Haonan Zhou, 2023. "Non-bank lending during crises," BIS Working Papers 1074, Bank for International Settlements.
    2. Hyeyoon Jung & João A. C. Santos & Lee Seltzer, 2023. "U.S. Banks’ Exposures to Climate Transition Risks," Staff Reports 1058, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Goedde-Menke, Michael & Ingermann, Peter-Hendrik, 2024. "Loan officer specialization and credit defaults," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Giovanni Favara & Camelia Minoiu & Ander Pérez-Orive, 2024. "Zombie Lending to U.S. Firms," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2024-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    5. Di, Wenhua & Pattison, Nathaniel, 2023. "Industry Specialization and Small Business Lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    6. Bednarek, Peter & Dinger, Valeriya & Schultz, Alison & von Westernhagen, Natalja, 2023. "Banks of a feather: The informational advantage of being alike," Discussion Papers 09/2023, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    7. Bernardo P. Marques & Carlos F. Alves, 2024. "Heterogeneity of business models and banking sector resilience," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(3), pages 256-271, September.
    8. Müller, Isabella & Nguyen, Huyen & Nguyen, Trang, 2024. "Carbon transition risk and corporate loan securitization," IWH Discussion Papers 22/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2024.
    9. Camelia Minoiu & Rebecca Zarutskie & Andrei Zlate, 2021. "Motivating Banks to Lend? Credit Spillover Effects of the Main Street Lending Program," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-078, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    bank specialization; bank concentration; asymmetric information; loan performance; bank performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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