Seit 1994 erlebt der deutsche Bankenmarkt eine Welle von Direktbankgründungen. Die Direktbankinnovation ist durch Entwicklungen auf der Angebots- und Nachfrageseite erklärbar. Einerseits ist sie in einer Periode zunehmenden Kostenwettbewerbs durch Weiterentwicklung der...

Switzerland is one of the countries with the highest concentration of bank-customer relationships. The present paper seeks to find out whether this can be explained by the structure of Swiss firms or by the organization of the Swiss banking market. Using survey data from small and medium-sized...

Adopting a continuous-time portfolio framework with endogenous financial intermediation, this paper analyzes diversification in bank lending. First, an increase in the number of independent credits in a loan portfolio is shown to enhance intermediation activities. This supports the hypothesis of...

Since 1994, the German banking market is confronted with an entry wave of direct banks. This banking innovation may be explained by developments on the supply side as well as on the demand side. It is pushed by developments in telecommunication technologies during a period of rising cost...

Germany's bank-based financial system provides a high level of financial inclusion, measured by bank outreach and use of financial services. However, the most vulnerable individuals and small enterprises in Germany tend to be excluded or credit constrained. The quality of financial inclusion is...

We offer a new test of the ex ante theory of collateral. Theory states that lenders rely less on collateral if they have better information about borrowers. We test this by contrasting the use of collateral between formal and - better informed - informal lenders in a developing financial market....

The ex ante theory of collateral states that better informed lenders, such as informal lenders, rely less on collateral. We test this by contrasting the use of collateral between formal and informal lenders in the same market. Indeed, formal lenders rely more often on collateral, controlling for...

To sustain growth in an aging economy, it is important to ease the financing of small firms by bank loans. Using bank internal data of small business loans in Germany, we examine the determinants of loan rates in the period 1995-2010. Beyond characteristics of the firm, the loan contract, and...

Bisherige Studien haben den digitalen Zugang zu Finanzdienstleistungen untersucht und gut versorgte sowie unterversorgte Regionen in Deutschland identifiziert. Das Vorhandensein eines hinreichend guten digitalen Zugangs sagt aber nichts darüber aus, ob dieser auch genutzt wird, um damit...

This paper examines the role of collateral in the rural credit market of an emerging country. Due to opaque information and weak enforcement, the need for collateral is expected to be high. However, rural households usually lack adequate assets to pledge as collateral. How is this puzzle solved?...