The sluggish development of corporate lending has remained the central concern of EU monetary policy makers as it is considered to hinder seriously the resurgence of growth. This paper looks at the development of loans to large corporations vs SMEs in the pre-crisis and post-crisis period and wishes to answer: (i) to which extent do allocated loan volumes actually contribute to Output growth? (ii) which factors determine the development of loans, considering above all loan interest rates? and (iii) what causes differences in loan interest levels across the EA? The results indicate that different loan developments in the EA explain very well differences in output development, loans to SMEs contribute even more to output growth than those for large corporations. Loan development itself is negatively influenced by the interest level which differs significantly across EA members, with small loans in addition always being charged an interest premium over large loans. The capitalization of banks, the size of banks and their internationalization play a role as well. A part of the sluggish growth of loans can be explained by the increasing use of alternative financial instruments by large firms. Interest rates in turn are following the ECB interest rate, - but this link has become looser in the post-crisis period, and long term government bond rates. Different risks faced by banks and different bank structures have become important explanatories of interest rates in the post-crisis period. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Does monetary policy affect the real economy? If so, what is the transmission mechanism or channel through which these effects occur? These two questions are among the most important and controversial in macroeconomics. This dissertation presents some new empirical evidence that addresses each question for the U.S. and Chinese economies. Literature on monetary transmission suggests that the monetary policy can take effect on the real economy through several ways. The most noteworthy one is credit channels, including the bank lending channel and the interest channel. First, I use a new method to test for structural breaks in the U.S. monetary policy history and present some new empirical evidence to support an operative bank lending channel in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. Results show that an operative bank lending channel existed in 1955 to 1968, and its impact on the economy has become much smaller since 1981, but it still has a significant buffering effect on output by attenuating the effect of the interest channel. Second, I adopt the recently developed time series technique to explore the puzzling negative correlation between output and stock returns in China currently, and posit that it is due to a negative link between monetary policy and stock returns when monetary policy increases output. The monetary policy has not been transmitted well in the public sector which is the principal part of Chinese stock market, and increased investment capital from monetary expansion goes to real estate sector instead of the stock market. Last, I demonstrate how monetary policy has been transmitted into the public and private sectors of China through the credit channel. The fundamental identification problem inherent in using aggregated data that leads to failure in isolating demand shock from supply shock is explicitly solved by introducing control factors. I find that the monetary policy has great impact on private sector rather than public sector through credit channel in China. These findings have important practical implications for U.S. and China’s economic development by improving the efficiency of the monetary policy because a comprehensive understanding of monetary transmission will lead to better policy design.

The purpose of this thesis is to empirically explore the characteristics of the monetary transmission mechanism, with a particular emphasis on the role of banks, in Turkey. By looking at the banking sector at the micro level and exploiting dynamic panel data modeling approaches, the heterogeneity in banks&rsquo / response in terms of their lending and risk-taking to changes in policy interest rates is analyzed. The first essay is an empirical analysis of the bank lending channel of monetary transmission. In this regard, the lending behavior of banks operating over the period 1988-2009 is examined. Given the changes in the policy stance and developments in the financial system following the 2000-01 crisis, the analysis is further conducted for the two sub-periods: 1988-2001 and 2002 2009, to examine whether there is a change in the functioning of the credit channel. Empirical evidence suggests cross sectional heterogeneity in banks&rsquo / response to monetary policy changes during 1988-2009. Regarding the results of the pre-crisis and post-crisis periods, it is found that an operative bank lending channel existed in 1988-2001, however its impact became much stronger thereafter. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the distributional effects due to bank specific characteristics in the impact of monetary policy on credit supply between the two sub-periods. The second essay investigates the existence of risk-taking channel of monetary policy by using quarterly data over the period 2002-2012. Four alternative risk measures are used in the analysis / three accounting-based risk indicators and a market-based indicator. Our findings show that low levels of interest rates have a positive impact of banks&rsquo / risk-taking behavior for all risk measures. In terms of bank specific characteristics, our results imply that large, liquid and well-capitalized banks are less prone to risk-taking.

Does monetary policy affect the real economy? If so, what is the transmission mechanism or channel through which these effects occur? These two questions are among the most important and controversial in macroeconomics. This dissertation presents some new empirical evidence that addresses each question for the U.S. and Chinese economies. Literature on monetary transmission suggests that the monetary policy can take effect on the real economy through several ways. The most noteworthy one is credit channels, including the bank lending channel and the interest channel. First, I use a new method to test for structural breaks in the U.S. monetary policy history and present some new empirical evidence to support an operative bank lending channel in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. Results show that an operative bank lending channel existed in 1955 to 1968, and its impact on the economy has become much smaller since 1981, but it still has a significant buffering effect on output by attenuating the effect of the interest channel. Second, I adopt the recently developed time series technique to explore the puzzling negative correlation between output and stock returns in China currently, and posit that it is due to a negative link between monetary policy and stock returns when monetary policy increases output. The monetary policy has not been transmitted well in the public sector which is the principal part of Chinese stock market, and increased investment capital from monetary expansion goes to real estate sector instead of the stock market. Last, I demonstrate how monetary policy has been transmitted into the public and private sectors of China through the credit channel. The fundamental identification problem inherent in using aggregated data that leads to failure in isolating demand shock from supply shock is explicitly solved by introducing control factors. I find that the monetary policy has great impact on private sector rather than public sector through credit channel in China. These findings have important practical implications for U.S. and China’s economic development by improving the efficiency of the monetary policy because a comprehensive understanding of monetary transmission will lead to better policy design.

Cette thèse examine l'impact des institutions formelles et informelles sur les ratios de fonds propres et les prêts des banques. Elle est composée de trois essais empiriques. Le premier chapitre explore l'effet de la qualité juridique et institutionnelle formelle sur les ratios de fonds propres pondérés par rapport aux ratios de fonds propres non pondérés des banques dans la région du Moyen-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord. Les résultats montrent que lorsque les marchés boursiers sont moins développés, les variables institutionnelles affectent de manière significative les ratios de fonds propres réglementaires pondérés par le risque, mais pas les ratios de levier. À l'inverse, lorsque les marchés boursiers sont plus développés, seuls les ratios de levier sont influencés par des facteurs institutionnels. Le deuxième chapitre parcourt la relation entre les ratios de fonds propres des banques, le cadre juridique et institutionnel et les prêts bancaires en utilisant un échantillon mondial de banques commerciales. Les résultats confirment que le développement institutionnel est un moteur important du crédit bancaire, tandis que l’effet des ratios de capital sur le crédit bancaire reste d’une importance mineure. Le troisième chapitre porte sur le rôle de la confiance dans le développement du crédit bancaire dans le monde. Les résultats confirment que la confiance Inter-groupe, la confiance envers les personnes que nous ne connaissons pas, renforce de manière significative les prêts bancaires dans les pays dans lesquels le développement institutionnel et judiciaire est relativement moins développé. En ce qui concerne la confiance intra-groupe, la confiance envers les personnes que nous connaissons, les résultats empiriques montrent qu’elle affecte indirectement le crédit bancaire en favorisant le développement du crédit informel. / This dissertation examines the impact of formal and informal institutions on bank capital ratios and lending. It comprises three empirical essays. The first chapter explores the effect of the legal and institutional quality on bank risk-weighted capital ratios versus non risk-weighted capital ratios in the Middle East and North Africa region. The findings show that when stock markets are less developed, institutional variables significantly affect risk-weighted regulatory capital ratios but not leverage ratios. Conversely, when stock markets are more developed, only leverage ratios are influenced by institutional factors. The second chapter explores the relationship between bank capital ratios, the legal and institutional framework, and bank lending using a global sample of commercial banks. The results confirm that institutional development is a significant driver of bank lending while the effect of capital ratios on bank lending remains of minor importance. The third chapter focuses on the role of trust in bank lending development around the world. It provides evidence that Out-group trust, the trust in individuals we do not know, significantly boosts bank lending in countries with relatively lower levels of institutional and judicial development. As for In-group trust, the trust in individuals we know, evidence shows that it affects bank lending indirectly by favoring the development of informal lending.

I denna C-uppsats med fördjupning företagsekonomi, har förhållandet mellan Sveriges bostadspriser och aktieindex studerats. Vidare undersökts huruvida bankernas utlåning och Sveriges ekonomiska tillväxt kan komma att fungera som en indikator på OMXS30. I uppsatsen diskuteras metodval och en presentation genomförs av diverse teorier som kan ligga till grund för analysen. Dessutom sammanfattas tidigare studier inom detta område och resultaten analyseras. Denna studie är begränsad till att analysera kvartalsvis data med ett tidsintervall på 23 år, från 1996 till 2019 i Sverige. Författarna ämnade att studera kvartalsvis data för att undersöka förekomsten av trender. Dessa trender kan sedan komma att nyttjas av framtida investerare. Data har analyserats i en korrelationsanalys och i en multipel linjär regressionsanalys. Resultaten visar att det på lång sikt finns en positiv korrelation mellan variablerna “bostadspriser” och “OMXS30”, dock visar resultaten också att sambandet mellan variablerna är negativt, det vill säga att när bostadspriserna ökar, minskar aktieindexet i värde. Bostadspriserna och OMXS30 långsiktiga korrelation kan förklaras av variablerna “bankernas utlåning” och “den ekonomiska tillväxten”, som i stor utsträckning har en positiv inverkan på OMXS30. Resultaten visar även på att det finns en långsiktig positiv korrelation mellan variablerna “bankernas utlåning” och “aktieindexet” enligt studiens korrelations- analys. Dock är sambandet negativt mellan variablerna “bankernas utlåning” och “aktieindexet”, enligt den multipla linjära regressionsanalysen. Utfallet innebär att en ökad bankutlåning, leder till att OMXS30 minskar i värde. Den ekonomiska tillväxten har däremot ett positivt signifikant samband med OMXS30, enligt korrelationsanalysen och den multipla regressionsanalysen. / In this bachelor thesis in business economy, the relationship between the Swedish stock market and real estate prices has been studied. Further an examination was conducted on whether bank lending and the economic growth in Sweden may act as an indicator on OMXS30. The thesis holds a discussion regarding the method of choice, a presentation of the chosen theories that could be used as a foundation for the analysis. Besides that, a summary is conducted on earlier studies on this field and an analysis based on the results was made. This study is limited to analyse quarterly data with a time interval on 23 years, between the years 1996 and 2019 in Sweden. Quarterly data was chosen in order to investigate the presence of different trends, which future investors could use. The data was analysed using a correlation analysis as well as a multiple regression analysis. The result showed an existence of a positive correlation between the variables “real estate prices” and “OMXS30” in the long run, but the result also shows a negative connection which means that a rise in real estate prices will result in a price fall on OMXS30. The long run correlation between real estate prices and OMXS3, can be explained by the variables “bank lending” and “economic growth”, with to a large extent har a positive impact on the OMXS30. The result also show evidence of the existence of positive correlation between bank lending and OMXS30 in the long run, but the connection is negative which means that a rise of bank lending will result in a fall on OMXS30. Contrariwise, according to both the regression and the correlation analysis, there is evidence of a positive significant connection between the economic growth and OMXS30.

In the thesis, we examine the bank lending channel and the effect of banking market structure on the transmission of monetary policy in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. We employ bank-level data for the period of 2011-2017 to detect if banks with different characteristics react differently to monetary policy shocks. Banking market structure is proxied by three measures-CR5, HHI, and Lerner Index. We estimate two types of models: dynamic (with system GMM) and static (with FE) models. We also consider the effect of dollarization on bank loan supply as well as on monetary policy. We do not find consistent evidence that banks react differently to monetary policy shocks depending on bank characteristics (size, capitalization, and liquidity). Hence the existence of the lending channel is not conclusive. Nevertheless, the results show that monetary policy is less effective in more concentrated markets. This finding is robust in all specifications with both types of models. In this sense, competition is not significant. The results also suggest that dollarization weakens the effect of domestic monetary policy. Keywords bank lending channel, CR5, HHI, Lerner Index, system GMM, dollarization Author's e-mail t.jvarize@yahoo.com Supervisor's e-mail janxmares@gmail.com

Previous research suggests that a policy interest rate cut below the reversal interest rate reverses the intended effect of monetary policy and becomes contractionary for lending. This paper is an empirical investigation into whether the reversal interest rate was breached in the Swedish negative interest rate environment between February 2015 and July 2016. We find that banks with a greater reliance on deposit funding were adversely affected by the negative interest rate environment, relative to other banks. This is because deposit rates are constrained by a zero lower bound, since banks are reluctant to introduce negative deposit rates for fear of deposit withdrawals. We show with a difference-in-differences approach that the most affected banks reduced loans to households and raised 5 year mortgage lending rates, as compared to the less affected banks, in the negative interest rate environment. These banks also experienced a drop in profitability, suggesting that the zero lower bound on deposits caused the lending spread of banks to be squeezed. However, we do not find evidence that the reversal rate has been breached. / Tidigare forskning menar att en sänkning av styrräntan under brytpunktsräntan gör att penningpolitiken får motsatt effekt och blir åtstramande för utlåning. Denna rapport är en empirisk studie av huruvida brytpunktsräntan passerades i det negativa ränteläget mellan februari 2015 och juli 2016 i Sverige. Våra resultat pekar på att banker vars finansiering till större del bestod av inlåning påverkades negativt av den negativa styrräntan, relativt till andra banker. Detta beror på att inlåningsräntor är begränsade av en lägre nedre gräns på noll procent. Banker är ovilliga att introducera negativa inlåningsräntor för att undvika att kunder tar ut sina insättningar och håller kontanter istället. Vi visar med en "difference-in-differences"-analys att de mest påverkade bankerna minskade lån till hushåll och höjde bolåneräntor med 5-åriga löptider, relativt till mindre påverkade banker, som konsekvens av den negativa styrräntan. Dessa banker upplevde även en minskning av lönsamhet, vilket indikerar att noll som en nedre gräns på inlåningsräntor bidrog till att bankernas räntemarginaler minskade. Vi hittar dock inga bevis på att brytpunktsräntan har passerats.

<p>This thesis includes three essays on several important topics in empirical finance: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) risk-taking incentives, the cost and syndicate structure of bank loans and corporate investments with internal funds. This thesis contributes to these aspects of finance literature and the three essays are presented in Chapter 2, 3 and 4.</p> <p>The first essay investigates how implicit contractual relationship between creditors and borrowers attenuates the conflict of interest between creditors and shareholders that arises from CEO compensation contracts when a corporation can be considered a nexus of explicit and implicit contractual relationships among stakeholders. We find that bank loans for firms with CEOs who are provided with risk-taking incentives have higher spreads and shorter maturities. A relationship between the lender and its borrower mitigates the influence of incentives for CEO risk-taking on loan spread and loan maturity. Such a relationship is especially beneficial for informationally opaque firms. The results are robust to the endogeneity of relationships and the simultaneous determination of loan spread, loan maturity and collateral requirements. Our results highlight the importance of the interaction between explicit and implicit contractual relationships to a firm’s borrowing cost.</p> <p>The second essay investigates the effects of a borrowing firm’s CEO risk-taking incentives on the structure of the firm’s syndicated loans. The conflict of interest between creditors and shareholders arising from CEO risk-taking incentives is a major concern of borrower moral hazard for syndicate lenders, which require intensive monitoring by lead arrangers in a syndicate. When CEO risk-taking incentives are high, syndicates are structured to facilitate better due diligence and monitoring efforts. These syndicates have a smaller number of total lenders and are more concentrated, and lead arrangers will retain a greater portion of the loan. Moreover, we examine the factors that affect the link between CEO risk-taking incentives and syndicate loan structure. CEO risk-taking incentives have a lesser effect on the syndicate structure when lead arrangers have a good reputation and have a prior lending relationship with a borrowing firm. By contrast, CEO risk-taking incentives have a greater influence on syndicate structure when borrowing firms are informationally opaque, are financially distressed or have low growth prospects.</p> <p>The third essay studies corporate investments with internal funds when firms face real investment friction using a sample of U.S. oil companies from 2003 to 2011 before and after the 2008 financial crisis. We show that firms’ capital expenditures are more sensitive to their lagged cash holdings than to their contemporaneous cash flows. By making investments with realized cash holdings, firms can avoid the investment adjustment costs that are incurred when investing with uncertain cash flows. We also show that cash flow policies are affected by liquidity constraints following the 2008 financial crisis: firms build up more cash reserves from cash flows, cut back payouts and raise more debt to maintain cash holdings.</p> / Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

This thesis conducts empirical studies related to financial institutions and corporate finance. Specifically, I look at banks’ lending behavior, performance of leveraged buyouts (LBOs), and the cultural impact on cross-border LBOs. Following an introduction in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2, I study U.S. commercial banks’ herding behavior in their domestic loan decisions, where herding is defined as the extent to which banks deviate from the industry average lending decisions and collectively increase or decrease loans to certain categories. I find significant evidence that herding exists and that banks tend to herd more when the economic condition is less favorable, regulation is tight, and when banks are struggling . Overall, these findings support the hypotheses of information asymmetry and regulatory arbitrage as motivations for herding. Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive study of LBO deal characteristics, participants’ involvement, and their impact on target firms’ performance. I find that better post-buyout operating performance is associated with larger amounts of leverage added during the LBO process, tighter LBO loan covenants, and equity contribution by target firms’ incumbent management. LBOs are more likely to exit through an IPO or a sale if they use more bank debt with tighter covenants and are sponsored by private equity (PE) firms of high reputation. These results suggest that the main source of value creation in LBOs is the reduced agency costs through the disciplining effect of debt, closer monitoring by lenders, and the better aligned management incentives. PE reputation is also important in ensuring successful deal outcomes. Chapter 4 (co-authored) examines the impact of cultural differences between PE firms and target firms on the completion of cross-border LBOs. We find that cultural distance between PE and target firms reduces the likelihood of buyout completion and increases the time between buyout announcement and completion. We also find that club deals moderate the negative (positive) impact of cultural distance on the likelihood (the duration) of LBO completion. This mitigation effect is through the increased familiarity channel of club formation. Our findings contribute to the literature that underscores the importance of culture in economic outcomes. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2014-06-24 08:59:00.0