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Loan Officer Authority and Small Business Lending.Evidence from a survey

Author

Listed:
  • benvenuti, m.
  • casolaro, l.
  • del prete, s.
  • mistrulli, p. e.

Abstract

A vast literature has emphasized that small banks are at a comparative advantage in small business lending. In this paper, we show that apart from size, which is negatively correlated with bank specialization in small business lending, organizational characteristics affect bank loan portfolio choices. By using a unique dataset based on a recent survey of Italian banks, we find that after having controlled for bank size, a branch loan officer’s authority has a key role in explaining bank specialization in small business lending. In particular, banks which delegate more decision-making power to their branch loan officers are more willing to lend to small firms than other banks. We approximate loan officers’ authority by controlling for several factors which shape their incentives: loan officer turnover, the amount of money up to which they are allowed to lend autonomously, their role in loan approval and in setting loan interest rates, the kind of information (soft versus hard information) used for screening and monitoring borrowers, and the structure of their compensation schemes.

Suggested Citation

  • benvenuti, m. & casolaro, l. & del prete, s. & mistrulli, p. e., 2010. "Loan Officer Authority and Small Business Lending.Evidence from a survey," MPRA Paper 26475, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:26475
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/26475/1/MPRA_paper_26475.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    4. 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.
    5. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1995. "Relationship Lending and Lines of Credit in Small Firm Finance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 351-381, July.
    6. Allen N. Berger & Gregory F. Udell, 2002. "Small Business Credit Availability and Relationship Lending: The Importance of Bank Organisational Structure," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 32-53, February.
    7. Pietro Alessandrini & Manuela Croci & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "The Geography of Banking Power: The Role of Functional Distance," Springer Books, in: Damiano Bruno Silipo (ed.), The Banks and the Italian Economy, chapter 0, pages 93-123, Springer.
    8. repec:ner:ucllon:http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/17678/ is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Robert Hauswald & Robert Marquez, 2006. "Competition and Strategic Information Acquisition in Credit Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 967-1000.
    10. Udell, Gregory F., 1989. "Loan quality, commercial loan review and loan officer contracting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 367-382, July.
    11. Pietro ALESSANDRINI & Andrea PRESBITERO & Alberto ZAZZARO, 2006. "Banks, Distances and Financing Constraints for Firms," Working Papers 266, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    12. Dell'Ariccia, Giovanni & Marquez, Robert, 2004. "Information and bank credit allocation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 185-214, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Dis-economies of scale in finance: why big banks are less efficient than small ones
      by Nicholas Gruen in Club Troppo on 2010-11-16 07:24:06

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Bellucci & Alexander Borisov & Alberto Zazzaro, 2016. "Bank Organization and Loan Contracting in Small Business Financing," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 118, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    2. 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.
    3. Sauro Mocetti & Marcello Pagnini & Enrico Sette, 2017. "Information Technology and Banking Organization," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 51(3), pages 313-338, June.
    4. Ivana Catturani & Sandro Trento, 2011. "Profit versus Non Profit: A Third Way? The Case of the Italian Mutual Cooperative Banks," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 3, pages 83-112, JULY-SEPT.
    5. Zeno Rotondi, 2013. "Relationship banking and organizational models: a new structure for UniCredit Group in Italy," BANCARIA, Bancaria Editrice, vol. 4, pages 15-23, April.
    6. Masazumi Hattori & Kohei Shintani & Hirofumi Uchida, 2012. "Authority and Soft Information Production within a Bank Organization," IMES Discussion Paper Series 12-E-07, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    7. Diana Bonfim & Qinglei Dai, 2017. "Bank Size and Lending Specialisation," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 46(2), pages 329-380, July.
    8. Marcello Pagnini & Silvia Del Prete & Paola Rossi & Valerio Vacca, 2013. "Lending Organization and Credit Supply During the Crisis," ERSA conference papers ersa13p673, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Ongena, Steven & Şendeniz-Yüncü, İlkay, 2011. "Which firms engage small, foreign, or state banks? And who goes Islamic? Evidence from Turkey," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3213-3224.
    10. Valerio Vacca, 2011. "An unexpected crisis? Looking at pricing effectiveness of different banks," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 814, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    11. Silvia Del Prete & Marcello Pagnini & Paola Rossi & Valerio Vacca, 2017. "Lending organization and credit supply during the 2008-09 crisis," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1108, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Valerio Vacca, 2017. "An Unexpected Crisis? Looking at Pricing Effectiveness of Heterogeneous Banks," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 46(2), pages 171-206, July.
    13. Presbitero, Andrea F. & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2011. "Competition and relationship lending: Friends or foes?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 387-413, July.
    14. Paolo Emilio Mistrulli & Valerio Vacca & Gennaro Corbisiero & Silvia del Prete & Luciano Esposito & Marco Gallo & Mariano Graziano & Maurizio Lozzi & Vincenzo Maffione & Daniele Marangoni & Andrea Mig, 2011. "Mutual Guarantee Institutions (MGIs) and small business credit during the crisis," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 105, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    15. Bartoli, Francesca & Ferri, Giovanni & Murro, Pierluigi & Rotondi, Zeno, 2013. "SME financing and the choice of lending technology in Italy: Complementarity or substitutability?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5476-5485.
    16. Masazumi Hattori & Kohei Shintani & Hirofumi Uchida, 2015. "The Repository of Soft Information within Bank Organizations," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(4), pages 737-770, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bank organization; Small business lending; Loan officer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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