The changing role of small banks in small business lending

Saturday, October 10, 2015: 10:00 AM
Michal Kowalik, Ph.D. , Economics, The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Boston, MA
Lamont Black, Ph.D. , Economics, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
This paper studies how competition from large banks a affects small banks' lending to small

business borrowers. Small banks have a greater ability to monitor their borrowers, but large

banks have a lower cost of financing. The model in the paper shows why an increase in large

bank competition makes small banks especially valuable to borrowers of intermediate quality.

We then analyze bank balance sheet data by loan size and find results consistent with this

prediction. The results indicate that small, single-market banks increase the share of their

small business loans in the intermediate size category ($250,000 to $1 million) following large

bank entry into their market. These findings suggest that small banks will continue to serve

this intermediate segment of the small business loan market as competition from large banks

increases.

This paper studies how competition from large banks a affects small banks' lending to small

business borrowers. Small banks have a greater ability to monitor their borrowers, but large

banks have a lower cost of financing. The model in the paper shows why an increase in large

bank competition makes small banks especially valuable to borrowers of intermediate quality.

We then analyze bank balance sheet data by loan size and find results consistent with this

prediction. The results indicate that small, single-market banks increase the share of their

small business loans in the intermediate size category ($250,000 to $1 million) following large

bank entry into their market. These findings suggest that small banks will continue to serve

this intermediate segment of the small business loan market as competition from large banks

increases.