The theory suggests that decentralized structures are more efficient than hierarchical ones in decisions based on soft information. According to this, small banks that often have a decentralised structure are more attractive when customers are opaque ones. We propose to test this affirmation using a panel of 6.258 couples (main bank/SME) working in the French market. The results of our several regressions show the existence of a strong tie between the firm’s informational opacity and the choice of a decentralised bank. Moreover, opaque firms are more likely to be credit constrained if they choose a hierarchical bank as their main bank.
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