The future of banking will be a return to the origin: increased lending activity, focus on SMEs and the importance of Relationship banking (RB). A review of the literature of the last thirty years shows the success elements to develop the RB even in the large banks operating internationally: the...

This survey on Relationship Lending (RL) reviews thirty years of literature in a new analysis framework that considers the alleged benefits of RL in all possible scenarios under which banks and firms could operate from a good time scenario to a scenario of generalized crisis affecting both firms...

During the critical stage of the financial crisis - between June 2008 and December 2009 - the credit policies of Italian banks were characterized by a wide range of different behaviours and performances, not only due to bank size. An analysis of a large sample of Italian banks, representing 85%...