In Asia, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for the major share of employment and dominate domestic economies, yet providing these companies with access to finance is a challenge across the region. Asian economies are often characterized as having bank-dominated financial systems...

This study investigates how credit ratings affect firm innovation. By exploiting sovereign downgrades as an exogenous shock to corporate credit ratings, we show that a sovereign downgrade leads to significant reductions in innovation among firms that have a rating at the sovereign bound ex ante....

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of most Asian economies. The main obstacle to the development of the SME sector is the lack of stable finance. Considering the bank-dominated characteristic of economies in Asia, banks are the main source of financing, and the lack of a...

We examine the effect of firm credit rating downgrades on the pricing and structure of syndicated bank loans following rating downgrades in the firms' countries of domicile. We find that the sovereign ceiling policies used by credit rating agencies create a disproportionally adverse impact on...

Due to the asymmetry of information between borrowers that are small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and lenders (banks), many banks are considering this sector as a risky sector. It is crucial for banks to be able to distinguish healthy from risky companies in order to reduce their...

Recent studies examining the effects of a credit rating on firms’ capital structure and adjustment of capital structure to target have focused predominantly on non-financial firms, with virtually no attention given to financial institutions. Using an international sample of 391 rated banks...

This paper develops a model of settlement system to study the endogenous structure of settlement networks, and the welfare consequences of clearing agent failure. The equilibrium degree of tiering is endogenously determined by the cost structure and the information structure. The degree of...

This paper attempts to investigate the impact of credit information sharing on bank-specific stock price crash risk. Using a sample of 1,402 listed-banks in 55 countries for the period 2005-2013, we show that credit information sharing through public credit registries is negatively associated...

I study the effect of interest rates on banks' lending standards. I find that low (high) interest rates discourage (encourage) screening but facilitate (hinder) effort provision. Less screening, as a result of low interest rates, increases the likelihood of a banking crisis. I further show that...