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This chapter empirically investigates how banks evaluate the creditworthiness of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Following SME loan underwriting literature that distinguishes among different lending technologies, we test whether the typical SME bank loan is underwritten primarily based on just a single technology. We find that although financial statement lending is the most commonly used and serves as a kind of basic technology, it tends not to be used to the exclusion of other technologies. These findings imply that, at least in Japan, SME lending practice may be inconsistent with academic research on how banks underwrite loans elsewhere.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the increasing calls to analyse how lending relationship between banks and their small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) work. More precisely, the main aim is to investigate the lending approach(es) and criteria used by banks to assess loan applications from their relationship-managed (RM) SMEs’ clients. Other objectives include investigating the level of congruence in terms of lending practices and processes among the sample banks in New Zealand (NZ) and to discern how the assessment of the SME owner/manager is done within the relationship-banking framework.

The research objectives concern investigating processes and not variances. Thus, a qualitative research approach was used. Extensive data was collected via interviews across representative banks in NZ and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

The findings include a detailed analysis of how relationship banking actually works; how in NZ, the main bank brands use three criteria of lending (financials, security and character) as a framework of assessing loan applications from RM-clients – which is different from the character, capital, capacity, conditions, and collateral (5Cs) that are widely used and discussed as the framework of lending; and an elucidation as to why and how character assessment is different from the other criteria of lending.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the mechanisms and processes that banks use to deal with their RM-SMEs, show the existence of a different framework of lending other than the 5Cs and attempt an explanation as to why character evaluation is different from that of the other criteria of lending.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) depend on a large measure on commercial banks for external capital, and US SMEs are increasingly experiencing bank credit constraints and resorting to costly alternatives. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of lender organizational complexity on SME financing shortfalls. In particular, it examines the credit shortage effects associated with the SME's reliance on bank holding company (BHC) owned, as opposed to independent, lenders.

Building on agency–theoretic rationales, the authors posit that both hierarchical and horizontal complexity associated with present-day BHC structures will diminish an affiliated bank's ability and willingness to properly underwrite SME credit needs. Consequently, they hypothesize that SMEs whose commercial lenders are BHC affiliates are likely to experience greater credit shortages. This hypothesis was tested using exhaustive financial data from a large and nationally representative sample of US SMEs.

Greater SME reliance on loans from BHC lenders was found to be associated with a greater use of late trade–credit payments. The latter is an expensive form of financing and a generally accepted indicator of shortages in conventional (and cheaper) bank credit.

Despite the evolution toward more complex bank organizational forms, especially among community banks, the implications for SME lending are not yet fully understood. This paper's contribution is to offer a first examination of the impact of post-deregulation BHC structures on SME financing shortfalls.

This study examines how lenders modify their behavior and their use of traditional, transaction-based lending models in credit decisions when faced with low earnings quality.

To measure the earnings quality, following Bharath, Sunder and Sunder (2008), the authors use three measures of accrual quality and combine them into a simple parsimonious measure of accrual quality. Subsequently, the authors apply the incremental R-square approach used by Kim and Kross (2005) to determine the degree to which lenders modify their reliance on financial statement ratios when faced with low accrual quality.

Consistent with prior literature, this study shows that the cost of debt is higher when accrual quality is low. In addition, this study extends prior literature by showing that lenders decrease their reliance on income statement data to make credit decisions as accrual quality decreases.

This paper broadens existing literature on the pricing of information risk in capital markets by being the first to show that lenders modify their reliance on financial statement data when faced with low-quality accruals. In addition, this paper extends the findings of Billings and Morton (2002) and demonstrates to managers the futility of using accrual manipulations to obtain more favorable credit terms. Lastly, this paper aids regulators and standard setters who seek to improve the usefulness of financial statements by showing that creditors do not appear to be misled by reporting choices that lower the quality of accruals.

The purpose of this study is to examine how lenders alter their behavior when faced with real earnings management.

This study uses the incremental R-square approach as in Kim and Kross (2005) to examine how much lenders rely on income statement and balance sheet ratios as the degree of real earnings management increases.

As real earnings management affects mostly the income statement, the authors find that lenders rely less on income statement ratios in making credit decisions in the presence of real earnings management. The authors also find that lenders do not alter their reliance on balance sheet ratios when faced with real earnings management.

This paper is the first to study how lenders alter their reliance on financial statements in making credit decisions in the presence of real earnings management. The findings of this paper could help the regulators set standards to improve the usefulness of financial statements. The findings of this paper could also help practitioners (borrowers and lenders) understand how real earnings management affects credit decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to apply a capability perspective to investigate the shift from relationship lending to transaction lending in a bank’s corporate segment. The authors investigate the impact of three operational capabilities: assisting corporate clients in funding and business operations, management of customer relationships and internal cooperation on performance in relationship and transaction lending.

The primarily empirical material comprises longitudinal survey data, collected on three occasions during the period 1998 throughout 2001 from one of Sweden’s largest banks. Data are analyzed using factor analysis and OLS regression.

Results show that the effects of the three capabilities are contingent on the type of lending strategy: In relationship lending, assisting corporate clients has no significant direct effect on performance; however, it has an indirect effect on performance via the management of customer relationships. In transaction lending, assisting corporate clients has a direct effect on performance, and this effect becomes stronger as the transaction strategy is further implemented. The results also show that the direct effect of the management of customer relationships and cooperation on performance is significant in both strategies; however, the relation is stronger in relationship lending compared with transaction lending.

The findings indicate that the choice of lending strategy is more complex than a choice between a strict relationship strategy and a strict transaction strategy and that a strategy that leads to competitive advantage includes elements of both strategies.

Using state-level data, the purpose of this paper is to examine state banking-industry specific as well as region economic determinants of real estate lending of commercial banks across all 51 states spanning the period 1966-2014.

Using both fixed-effects and dynamic-generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques the study compares the sensitivity of different categories of real estate loans to regional banking and economic conditions. Finally, it provides a comparative perspective by comparing the results for real estate loans with other categories of loans given out by banks.

Greater capitalization, liquidity and overhead costs reduce real estate lending, while banks diversification and the size of the banking industry in each state increase such lending. Moreover, real estate loans are found to be procyclical to state economic cycles with a rise in state real gross domestic product (GDP) growth, increase in state housing price index (HPI) and decline in both inflation and unemployment rates, increasing real estate loans. Within disaggregated loan types, construction and land development and single-family residential loans are most responsive to state banking and economic conditions.

The recent financial turmoil is to a large extent attributable to excessive risk-taking by banks, particularly in terms of real estate lending. Hence, it is of paramount importance to empirically address the various determinants of real estate lending. With most banks restricting their operations in either one or a few states only, real estate lending in any given state may be more sensitive to regional banking and economic conditions than national aggregates. The present study is the first of its type to perform such an analysis.

The study explores how the intention to export affects financing and non-financing variables for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a low-income country (LIC). The objectives of this study are (1) to discern between regional and global exporting and (2) to evaluate its policymaking implications.

Primary survey data were collected from 330 Rwandan SMEs and were analysed using ordered logistic models as an application of the expectation-maximisation iterating algorithm, which was tested for robustness using a sampling model variation.

The results show that alternative sources of finance are the predominant choice to finance the intention to export within and outside Africa. As the scope of export intentions broadened from regional to global, there was a shift in preferences from less formal to more formal lending technologies, moving from methods like factoring to lines of credit. Moreover, reliance on bank officers became more significant, with increasing marginal effects. Finally, the study determined that government financing schemes were not relevant for SMEs pursuing either regional or global exporting.

Whilst alternative sources of finance predominate the export intentions of Rwandan SMEs, establishing a robust banking relationship becomes crucial for global exporting. Despite this implication, the intention to export should prompt more transparent communication regarding government financial support programmes. There is an opportunity for increased usage of relationship lending to customise support for SMEs involved in exporting, benefiting both the private and public sectors.

This study accentuates how export distance alters SME financing priorities. The results also contribute to understanding how the value of relationship lending changes when less familiar markets (i.e. global exporting) are the objective. Moreover, the study offers a new perspective on how institutional voids affect entrepreneurial financing decisions in LICs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneurs, banks, the government, and alternative lending respond to finance gaps for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper considers valuation as a sociological construct where actors use different calculative devices, forming an assemblage that partly positions valuation of entrepreneurial finance as a contested and socially constructed process.

Drawing on the concept of “calculative devices”, the study articulates discursive institutional practices embedded within SME lending. This case study draws on analyses of 30 semi-structured interviews and archival data, government reports, and newspaper articles.

The study identified three triggers in Rwanda that were rooted in the informal and unincorporated nature of the SME governance structure, the lack of capacity for SME owners to manage their own projects, and normalising language around collateral requirements that marginalised the realities of SMEs, contributing to stagnation for SME finance.

The research provides direction for understanding how calculative devices create new forms of valuation of entrepreneurship in developing countries, particularly when human and non-human actors come together in an assemblage. The study calls for further research to demonstrate the embedded power of valuation practices and the performance of value in entrepreneurial finance.

The study brings new findings to the market creation literature by extending the notion of distributive calculative agency to SME finance. The study mobilises theory to interpret how discursive institutional practices are embedded within a country’s finance infrastructure, yielding unintended consequences for SME growth.

The role of foreign banks in impacting the behavior of domestic banks has been a relatively unaddressed topic in the literature. Employing bank-wise data on MENA countries during 2000-2012, the purpose of this paper is to examine how the behavior of foreign banks impact domestic bank performance. For this purpose, the authors focus on not only their profitability and stability, but also on broader numbers such as loan portfolio and funding costs. In addition, the authors also explore the impact of foreign banks on the growth of domestic economies and its implications for the allocation of capital and labor.

The authors employ the dynamic panel data methodology as compared to alternate techniques owing to the ability of this technique to effectively address the endogeneity problem of some of the independent variables.

The results suggest that foreign bank presence exerts significant spillover effects. At the same time, increased foreign banks appear to impel domestic banks to cut back lending. As regards its impact on growth, the results indicate that although labor does not exert any discernible impact on GDP growth, capital exerts a positive impact on output when foreign bank penetration is high, supportive of the real effects of foreign banks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the early studies for MENA countries to examine this issue in a systematic manner. Most studies of this genre focus on a limited set of banks/countries, thereby limiting their empirical evidence. By focussing on an extended sample of MENA country banks covering an extended period that subsumes the financial crisis, the analysis is also able to shed light as to how foreign presence impacts domestic bank performance.