Borrowing in Unsettled Times and Cash Holdings Afterwards

We find firms which successfully obtained a bank loan in a crisis reduced their cash holdings post-crisis, using Japanese data from the 2008 financial crisis. Firms received loans primarily from non-main banks. This substitution between borrowing and cash holdings applies to firms with an executive who had served as a CEO or financial officer in the crisis. This resulted in a substantial reduction in borrowing costs after the crisis. These findings are consistent with theories of relationship banking that managerial confidence in the availability of non-main bank loans reduces their precautionary cash holdings both to address a liquidity shortage and to mitigate a hold-up by their main bank. We also find that, in the post-crisis period, firms that obtained bank loans during the crisis spent more (over time and in comparison to other firms) on equity investments in their affiliates as well as on R&D among firms with pre-crisis R&D expenses.