IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/wptemi/td_1292_20.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Asymmetric information in corporate lending: evidence from SME bond markets

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandra Iannamorelli

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Stefano Nobili

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Antonio Scalia

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Luana Zaccaria

    (EIEF)

Abstract

Using a comprehensive dataset of Italian SMEs, we find that differences between private and public information on creditworthiness affect firms’ decisions to issue debt securities. Surprisingly, our evidence supports positive (rather than adverse) selection. Holding public information constant, firms with better private fundamentals are more likely to access bond markets. Additionally, credit conditions improve for issuers following the bond placement, compared with a matched sample of non-issuers. These results are consistent with a model where banks offer more flexibility than markets during financial distress and firms may use market lending to signal credit quality to outside stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandra Iannamorelli & Stefano Nobili & Antonio Scalia & Luana Zaccaria, 2020. "Asymmetric information in corporate lending: evidence from SME bond markets," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1292, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1292_20
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/temi-discussione/2020/2020-1292/en_tema_1292.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diamond, Douglas W, 1991. "Monitoring and Reputation: The Choice between Bank Loans and Directly Placed Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 689-721, August.
    2. Matteo Accornero & Paolo Finaldi Russo & Giovanni Guazzarotti & Valentina Nigro, 2015. "First-time corporate bond issuers in Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 269, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    4. King, Gary & Zeng, Langche, 2001. "Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 137-163, January.
    5. Denis, David J. & Mihov, Vassil T., 2003. "The choice among bank debt, non-bank private debt, and public debt: evidence from new corporate borrowings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 3-28, October.
    6. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Giorgio Albareto & Giuseppe Marinelli, 2018. "Italian banks and market-based corporate financing," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 432, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    8. Cantillo, Miguel & Wright, Julian, 2000. "How Do Firms Choose Their Lenders? An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 155-189.
    9. Tobias Berg & Anthony Saunders & Sascha Steffen, 2016. "The Total Cost of Corporate Borrowing in the Loan Market: Don't Ignore the Fees," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1357-1392, June.
    10. Giorgio Gobbi & Enrico Sette, 2014. "Do Firms Benefit from Concentrating their Borrowing? Evidence from the Great Recession," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(2), pages 527-560.
    11. Joshua D. Rauh & Amir Sufi, 2010. "Capital Structure and Debt Structure," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4242-4280, December.
    12. Leland, Hayne E & Pyle, David H, 1977. "Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 371-387, May.
    13. Ongena, Steven & Peydró, José-Luis & Horen, Neeltje van, 2015. "Shocks Abroad, Pain at Home? Bank-Firm Level Evidence on the International Transmission of Financial Shocks," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 63(4), pages 698-750.
    14. Matteo Benetton & Davide Fantino, 2018. "Competition and the pass-through of unconventional monetary policy: evidence from TLTROs," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1187, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    15. Chemmanur, Thomas J & Fulghieri, Paolo, 1994. "Reputation, Renegotiation, and the Choice between Bank Loans and Publicly Traded Debt," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(3), pages 475-506.
    16. Fiorella De Fiore & Harald Uhlig, 2011. "Bank Finance versus Bond Finance," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(7), pages 1399-1421, October.
    17. Bolton, Patrick & Scharfstein, David S, 1996. "Optimal Debt Structure and the Number of Creditors," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 1-25, February.
    18. Michael Faulkender & Mitchell A. Petersen, 2006. "Does the Source of Capital Affect Capital Structure?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(1), pages 45-79.
    19. Gertner, Robert & Scharfstein, David, 1991. "A Theory of Workouts and the Effects of Reorganization Law," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1189-1222, September.
    20. Charles J. Hadlock & Christopher M. James, 2002. "Do Banks Provide Financial Slack?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1383-1419, June.
    21. Gomes, Armando & Phillips, Gordon, 2012. "Why do public firms issue private and public securities?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 619-658.
    22. Mark Grinblatt & Chuan Yang Hwang, "undated". "Signalling and the Pricing of Unseasoned New Issues," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 1-89, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    23. Rebel A. Cole, 2013. "What Do We Know about the Capital Structure of Privately Held US Firms? Evidence from the Surveys of Small Business Finance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(4), pages 777-813, December.
    24. Fiorella De Fiore & Harald Uhlig, 2011. "Bank Finance versus Bond Finance," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(7), pages 1399-1421, October.
    25. Sandra E. Black & Philip E. Strahan, 2002. "Entrepreneurship and Bank Credit Availability," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2807-2833, December.
    26. Chava, Sudheer & Oettl, Alexander & Subramanian, Ajay & Subramanian, Krishnamurthy V., 2013. "Banking deregulation and innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 759-774.
    27. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    28. Alicia M. Robb & David T. Robinson, 2014. "The Capital Structure Decisions of New Firms," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 153-179, January.
    29. Allen, Franklin & Faulhaber, Gerald R., 1989. "Signalling by underpricing in the IPO market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 303-323, August.
    30. Patrick Bolton & Xavier Freixas, 2000. "Equity, Bonds, and Bank Debt: Capital Structure and Financial Market Equilibrium under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(2), pages 324-351, April.
    31. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. "The Benefits of Lending Relationships: Evidence from Small Business Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-37, March.
    32. Steven Ongena & José-Luis Peydró & Neeltje van Horen, 2015. "Shocks Abroad, Pain at Home? Bank-Firm-Level Evidence on the International Transmission of Financial Shocks," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 63(4), pages 698-750, November.
    33. Grinblatt, Mark & Hwang, Chuan Yang, 1989. " Signalling and the Pricing of New Issues," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 393-420, June.
    34. Sudip Datta & Mai Iskandar‐Datta & Ajay Patel, 2000. "Some Evidence on the Uniqueness of Initial Public Debt Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 715-743, April.
    35. Rajan, Raghuram G, 1992. "Insiders and Outsiders: The Choice between Informed and Arm's-Length Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1367-1400, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Auria, Laura & Bingmer, Markus & Graciano, Carlos Mateo Caicedo & Charavel, Clémence & Gavilá, Sergio & Iannamorelli, Alessandra & Levy, Aviram & Maldonado, Alfredo & Resch, Florian & Rossi, Anna Mari, 2021. "Overview of central banks’ in-house credit assessment systems in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 284, European Central Bank.
    2. Laura Auria & Markus Bingmer & Carlos Mateo Caicedo Graciano & Clémence Charavel & Sergio Gavilá & Alessandra Iannamorelli & Aviram Levy & Alfredo Maldonado & Florian Resch & Anna Maria Rossi & Step, 2021. "Overview of central banks’ in-house credit assessment systems in the euro area," Mercati, infrastrutture, sistemi di pagamento (Markets, Infrastructures, Payment Systems) 13, Bank of Italy, Directorate General for Markets and Payment System.
    3. Darmouni, Olivier & Papoutsi, Melina, 2022. "The rise of bond financing in Europe: five facts about new and small issuers," Working Paper Series 2663, European Central Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alessandra Iannamorelli & Stefano Nobili & Antonio Scalia & Luana Zaccaria, 2021. "Asymmetric Information and Corporate Lending: Evidence from SMEs Bond Markets," EIEF Working Papers Series 2105, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Mar 2021.
    2. Davydov, Denis & Nikkinen, Jussi & Vähämaa, Sami, 2014. "Does the decision to issue public debt affect firm valuation? Russian evidence," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 136-151.
    3. Ovtchinnikov, Alexei V., 2016. "Debt decisions in deregulated industries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 230-254.
    4. Akdoğu, Evrim & Alp Paukowits, Aysun, 2022. "Supply of credit and corporate bond covenants," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    5. Meneghetti, Costanza, 2012. "Managerial Incentives and the Choice between Public and Bank Debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-91.
    6. Galina Hale & João A. C. Santos, 2006. "Evidence on the costs and benefits of bond IPOs," Working Paper Series 2006-42, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    7. Xu, Si & He, Xiaoyi & Cao, Chunfang, 2023. "Struggle for survival in credit crunch: The effect of interest rate deregulation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. Daniel Tut, 2022. "Debt dynamic, debt dispersion and corporate governance," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(4), pages 744-771, July.
    9. Białek-Jaworska Anna & Krawczyk Tomasz, 2019. "Corporate bonds or bank loans? The choice of funding sources and information disclosure of Polish listed companies," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 6(53), pages 262-285, January.
    10. Davydov, Denis, 2016. "Debt structure and corporate performance in emerging markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 299-311.
    11. Ron Christian Antonczyk & Wolfgang Breuer & Astrid Juliane Salzmann, 2014. "Long-Term Orientation and Relationship Lending: A Cross-Cultural Study on the Effect of Time Preferences on the Choice of Corporate Debt," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 381-415, June.
    12. Xu Li & Chen Lin & Xintong Zhan, 2019. "Does Change in the Information Environment Affect Financing Choices?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5676-5696, December.
    13. Joshua D. Rauh & Amir Sufi, 2010. "Capital Structure and Debt Structure," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4242-4280, December.
    14. Leming Lin, 2016. "Collateral and the Choice Between Bank Debt and Public Debt," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(1), pages 111-127, January.
    15. Albring, Susan M. & Khurana, Inder K. & Nejadmalayeri, Ali & Pereira, Raynolde, 2011. "Managerial compensation and the debt placement decision," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 1445-1456.
    16. Jan Bartholdy & Cesario Mateus & Dennis Olson, 2012. "Do Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Match Their Assets and Liabilities? Evidence from Portugal," The International Journal of Business and Finance Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 6(4), pages 13-31.
    17. Massa, Massimo & Yasuda, Ayako & Zhang, Lei, 2013. "Supply uncertainty of the bond investor base and the leverage of the firm," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 185-214.
    18. Hale, Galina & Santos, João A.C., 2008. "The decision to first enter the public bond market: The role of firm reputation, funding choices, and bank relationships," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1928-1940, September.
    19. Paola Bongini & Annalisa Ferrando & Emanuele Rossi & Monica Rossolini, 2021. "SME access to market-based finance across Eurozone countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1667-1697, April.
    20. Boubaker, Sabri & Saffar, Walid & Sassi, Syrine, 2018. "Product market competition and debt choice," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 204-224.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    asymmetric information; bank credit; bond markets; SME finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1292_20. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.