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Internal Control and Strategic Communication within Firms – Evidence from Bank Lending

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Listed:
  • Brown, Martin
  • Schaller, Matthias
  • Westerfeld, Simone
  • Heusler, Markus

Abstract

The allocation of authority affects the communication of information about clients within banks. We document that in small business lending internal control leads loan officers to propose inflated credit ratings for their clients. Inflated ratings are, however, anticipated and partly reversed by the credit officers responsible for approving credit assessments. More experienced loan officers inflate those parameters of a credit rating which are least likely to be corrected by credit officers. Our analysis covers 10,568 internal ratings for 3,661 small business clients at six retail banks. We provide empirical support to theories suggesting that internal control can induce strategic communication within organizations when senders and receivers of information have diverging interests. Our findings also point to the limits of the four-eyes principle as a risk-management tool in financial institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown, Martin & Schaller, Matthias & Westerfeld, Simone & Heusler, Markus, 2015. "Internal Control and Strategic Communication within Firms – Evidence from Bank Lending," Working Papers on Finance 1504, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance, revised Jul 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:usg:sfwpfi:2015:04
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    File URL: http://ux-tauri.unisg.ch/RePEc/usg/sfwpfi/WPF-1504.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thorsten Beck & Patrick Behr & Andre Guettler, 2013. "Gender and Banking: Are Women Better Loan Officers?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(4), pages 1279-1321.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gropp, Reint & Guettler, Andre, 2018. "Hidden gems and borrowers with dirty little secrets: Investment in soft information, borrower self-selection and competition," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 26-39.
    2. Brown, Martin & Kirschenmann, Karolin & Spycher, Thomas, 2017. "Numeracy and the quality of on-the-job decisions: Evidence from loan officers," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-026, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Alin Marius Andries & Martin Brown, 2017. "Credit booms and busts in emerging markets," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 25(3), pages 377-437, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Internal Control; Authority; Information; Small Business Lending;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
    • M2 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics

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