This article investigates empirically whether foreign and domestic credit rating agencies tightened their standards for evaluating Japanese regional banks from 2000 to 2009. We extend and enhance previous studies, including Gonis and Taylor (2009), by estimating an ordered probit model using...

This paper examines whether Japanese regional banks entering the banking market in other prefectures, including neighboring prefectures, can increase their lending-based income. To stimulate local economies and support local small- and medium-sized enterprises, the current Japanese Government's...

Motivated by the recent discussion of the declining importance of deposits as banks' major source of funding we investigate which factors determine funding costs at local banks. Using a panel data set of more than 800 German local savings and cooperative banks for the period from 1998 to 2004 we...

The bursting of the Japanese bubble economy in the early 1990s put the stage for a lasting low-, zero-, and negative-interest rate environment, which fundamentally changed the business environment for the Japanese commercial banks. On the income side, with interest margins becoming increasingly...

The bursting of the Japanese bubble economy in the early 1990s put the stage for a lasting lowzero-, and negative-interest rate environment, which fundamentally changed the business environment for the Japanese commercial banks. On the income side, with interest margins becoming increasingly...

An economy's ability to resist adverse shocks, such as an economic recession or natural disaster, is associated with its financial system structure due to different countercyclical funding capabilities. This paper uses a novel database of bank headquarter locations in a cross-country comparison...

Real estate price growth affects credit risk for several reasons: it provides input for economic forecasts as it's closely tied to economic growth; when used as collateral by banks, rising real estate prices may decrease both expected and actual losses; and banks may become less risk averse in...

By lending to SMEs at low geographical distance, banks can realise competitive advantage due to enhanced access to soft information that allows the better screening of firms. As especially regional banks lend at a low distance, the decentralised German banking system is deemed ideal for SME...

This paper examines whether Japanese regional banks entering the banking market in other prefectures, including neighboring prefectures, can increase their lending-based income. To stimulate local economies and support local small- and medium-sized enterprises, the current Japanese Government's...

An economy's ability to resist adverse shocks, such as an economic recession or natural disaster, is associated with its financial system structure due to different countercyclical funding capabilities. This paper uses a novel database of bank headquarter locations in a cross-country comparison...