Kreditvergabe durch Genossenschaftsbanken, Kreditbanken und Sparkassen: Eine empirische Analyse von Förderkrediten für junge, kleine Unternehmen

In this paper we examine how German cooperative banks, (non-cooperative) private credit banks and savings banks contribute to the long-term loan financing of young and small firms. Bank loans, especially long-term bank loans, are often used by young and small firms in Germany. We focus on a specific type of loan. The assignment of these loans to firms involves cooperative banks, private credit banks or savings banks. The loans come from public subsidized loan programs and constitute a substantial part of all long-term bank loans to young firms and SME in Germany. We present empirical analyses for the 1990s based on county-level as well as firm-level data. We find that private credit banks did not change their lending to young and small firms during that period. Since the start of the 1990s, they have played only a minor role in start-up and small business lending. Cooperative and savings banks have had, in contrast, a strong, positive influence. One particularly relevant finding is that the lending activities of cooperative and savings banks turn out to be similarly strong and do not differ significantly. Taken together, our results imply that having banks that operate regionally with a decentralized organizational form, but not public ownership, is crucial to the observed lending activities.