Ongoing financial innovation and greater information availability increase the tradability of bank assets and reduce banks' dependence on individual bank managers as private information in the lending process declines. In this paper we argue that this has two effects on banks, with opposing...

Relationship lending is a common practice in credit financing all over the world, particularly in Germany. On the basis of a comprehensive data set comprising information on firm-bank relationships for more than 16,000 observations, this study analyses the determinants of relationship lending in...

Most of the literature addressing multiple banking assumes equal financing shares. However, unequal, concentrated or asymmetric bank borrowing is widespread. This paper investigates the determinants of creditor concentration for German firms using a comprehensive bank-firm level dataset for the...

By using short-term direct finance firms of the highest credit quality expose themselves to rollover risk in the public debt markets. Firms insure themselves against this risk by securing backup lines of credit from banks that they may use should market liquidity dry up. In a first step, this...

The paper estimates and compares cost efficiency of domestic and foreign banks in Thailand by using bank-panel data between 1995 and 2003. It also examines the effect of foreign bank entry on banking efficiency in Thailand since the significant acquisitions by foreign banks after the 1997...

Ratings stehen derzeit im Brennpunkt der öffentlichen Aufmerksamkeit, vorrangig wegen der unter dem Schlagwort "Basel II" bekannt gewordenen Planungen des Basler Ausschusses für Bankenaufsicht. Bereits die ersten Fassungen der Konsultationspapiere haben für erhebliche Diskussionen gesorgt und...

Im Mittelpunkt der gerade auch von solchen "atypischen Unternehmen" nach wie vor geäußerten Ängste stehen die durch das Basler Gremium geforderten Ratingsysteme, wobei Beobachter der Diskussion den Eindruck gewinnen können, als wäre das Rating von Kreditnehmern etwas völlig Neuartiges....

Die gründliche Überprüfung der Kreditwürdigkeit eines Vertragspartners ist keineswegs ein Novum auf den Finanzmärkten, sondern wird in ihren Grundzügen schon seit Jahrhunderten unter Kaufleuten vor Eingehung von Geschäftsbeziehungen praktiziert. Dies zeigt sich z. B. in zeitgenössischer...

This paper documents that standard cross-sectional determinants of firm leverage also apply to the capital structure of large banks in the United States and Europe. We find a remarkable consistency in sign, significance and economic magnitude. Like non-financial firms, banks appear to have...

In the last few years it has been possible to observe decreasing interest margins for German universal banks. At the same time, institutions increasingly moved part of their business from interest to fee-earning activities. This study analyzes the determinants of non-interest income and its...