We develop a general equilibrium model where entrepreneurs finance random investment opportunities using trade credit, bank-issued assets, or currency. They search for bank funding in over-the-counter markets where loan sizes, interest rates, and down payments are negotiated bilaterally. The theory generates pass-through from nominal interest rates to real lending rates depending on market microstructure, policy, and firm characteristics. Higher banks' bargaining power, for example, raises pass-through but weakens transmission to investment. Interest rate spreads arise from liquidity, regulatory, and intermediation premia and depend on policy described as money growth or open market operations.

We construct and calibrate a monetary model of corporate finance with endogenous formation of lending relationships. The equilibrium features money demands by firms that depend on their access to credit and a pecking order of financing means. We describe the mechanism through which monetary policy affects the creation of relationships and firms’ incentives to use internal or external finance. We study optimal monetary policy following an unanticipated destruction of relationships under different commitment assumptions. The Ramsey solution uses forward guidance to expedite creation of new relationships by committing to raise the user cost of cash gradually above its long-run value. Absent commitment, the user cost is kept low, delaying recovery.