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Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Vol. 57 No. 8 2022

The Informational Role of Ownership Networks in Bank Lending

Haoyu Gao1; Hong Ru2; Xiaoguang Yang3

1 Renmin University of China · 2 Nanyang Technological University · 3 Chinese Academy of Sciences

Abstract

This article documents novel large-sample evidence on the informational role of interfirm ownership networks in bank lending. Using comprehensive loan-level data in China, we find that banks’ internal loan ratings at issuance predict subsequent delinquent events more accurately when borrowers are connected to banks’ existing customers via ownership networks. In post-issuance monitoring for delinquent loans, banks with access to ownership networks manage to downgrade their initial ratings before late payments. These findings suggest that ownership networks facilitate the transmission of private information for bank lending. Moreover, ownership networks are more important for transmitting information related to small and medium enterprises.

DOI
10.1017/s0022109021000788
Volume
57
Issue
8
Pages
2993-3017
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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