IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/bubdp1/4176.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The pass-through from market interest rates to bank lending rates in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Weth, Mark A.

Abstract

The terms and conditions on which bank loans are made to non-financial firms and households play a key role in the transmission of monetary policy. This paper analyses the relationship between German bank lending rates and both money market and capital market rates in the 1990s. This study reveals evidence of structural differences in the interest rate pass-through across German banks. The speed at which bank lending rates adjust to changes in market rates is related to a credit institution's size, its refinancing conditions and the extent of its business with non-banks. Large banks and banks with few savings deposits adjust their lending rates to market terms more quickly than other banks, possibly because their scope for setting interest rates is comparatively narrow. A fairly small amount of long-term business with non-bank customers, indicating the importance of relationship banking, also leads to a faster lending rate pass-through. In the short run, lending rates are stickier for banks that are largely able to cover their long-term loans to non-banks by corresponding deposits from such clients. Finally, the lending rates charged on corporate loans at a number of banks - especially those for current account credit - respond only gradually to changes in market rates. By smoothing their rates, banks appear to accept temporary fluctuations in their loan mark-up. This, in turn, tends to retard monetary policy transmission via bank rates. In the long-run relationship between lending and market rates, however, apart from a constant bank-specific mark-up, there are, in most cases, no differences across banks. This suggests that a similar long-run pass-through obtains for all interest rate reporting banks, irrespective of the adjustment process.

Suggested Citation

  • Weth, Mark A., 2002. "The pass-through from market interest rates to bank lending rates in Germany," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2002,11, Deutsche Bundesbank.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:4176
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/19568/1/200211dkp.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pesaran, M.H. & Shin, Y., 1995. "An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Modelling Approach to Cointegration Analysis," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 9514, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Elsas, Ralf & Krahnen, Jan Pieter, 1998. "Is relationship lending special? Evidence from credit-file data in Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(10-11), pages 1283-1316, October.
    3. Berlin, Mitchell & Mester, Loretta J, 1999. "Deposits and Relationship Lending," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(3), pages 579-607.
    4. Corvoisier, Sandrine & Gropp, Reint, 2002. "Bank concentration and retail interest rates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(11), pages 2155-2189, November.
    5. Allen, Linda, 1988. "The Determinants of Bank Interest Margins: A Note," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 231-235, June.
    6. Ehrmann, M. & Worms, A., 2001. "Interbank Lending and Monetary Policy Transmission: Evidence for Germany," Papers 73, Quebec a Montreal - Recherche en gestion.
    7. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 1999. "Innovations in Financial Services, Relationships, and Risk Sharing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(9), pages 1239-1253, September.
    8. Zarruk, Emilio R., 1989. "Bank spread with uncertain deposit level and risk aversion," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 797-810, December.
    9. Hannan, Timothy H & Berger, Allen N, 1991. "The Rigidity of Prices: Evidence from the Banking Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(4), pages 938-945, September.
    10. Claudio E. V. Borio & Wilhelm Fritz, 1995. "The response of short-term bank lending rates to policy rates: a cross-country perspective," BIS Working Papers 27, Bank for International Settlements.
    11. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1995. "The Effect of Credit Market Competition on Lending Relationships," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 407-443.
    12. Claudio E. V. Borio, 1995. "The structure of credit to the non-goverment sector and the transmission mechanism of monetary policy: a cross-country comparison," BIS Working Papers 24, Bank for International Settlements.
    13. Judson, Ruth A. & Owen, Ann L., 1999. "Estimating dynamic panel data models: a guide for macroeconomists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 9-15, October.
    14. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 1995. "Universal banking, intertemporal risk smoothing, and European financial integration," Working Papers 95-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    15. Kremers, Jeroen J M & Ericsson, Neil R & Dolado, Juan J, 1992. "The Power of Cointegration Tests," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 54(3), pages 325-348, August.
    16. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1992. "Some Evidence on the Empirical Significance of Credit Rationing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 1047-1077, October.
    17. Kit, Pong Wong, 1997. "On the determinants of bank interest margins under credit and interest rate risks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 251-271, February.
    18. Jeremy C. Stein & Anil K. Kashyap, 2000. "What Do a Million Observations on Banks Say about the Transmission of Monetary Policy?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 407-428, June.
    19. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 1995. "Universal Banking, Intertemporal Smoothing and European Financial Integration," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 95-20, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    20. Ho, Thomas S. Y. & Saunders, Anthony, 1981. "The Determinants of Bank Interest Margins: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 581-600, November.
    21. Carlo Cottarelli & Giovanni Ferri & Andrea Generale, 1995. "Bank Lending Rates and Financial Structure in Italy: A Case Study," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 42(3), pages 670-700, September.
    22. Ms. Angeliki Kourelis & Mr. Carlo Cottarelli, 1994. "Financial Structure, Bank Lending Rates, and the Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy," IMF Working Papers 1994/039, International Monetary Fund.
    23. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    24. Mojon, Benoît, 2000. "Financial structure and the interest rate channel of ECB monetary policy," Working Paper Series 40, European Central Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. De Graeve, Ferre & De Jonghe, Olivier & Vennet, Rudi Vander, 2007. "Competition, transmission and bank pricing policies: Evidence from Belgian loan and deposit markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 259-278, January.
    2. Horváth, Roman & Podpiera, Anca, 2012. "Heterogeneity in bank pricing policies: The Czech evidence," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 87-108.
    3. Michiel van Leuvensteijn & Christoffer Kok Sørensen & Jacob A. Bikker & Adrian A.R.J.M. van Rixtel, 2013. "Impact of bank competition on the interest rate pass-through in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(11), pages 1359-1380, April.
    4. Putkuri, Hanna, 2010. "Housing loan rate margins in Finland," Research Discussion Papers 10/2010, Bank of Finland.
    5. Gambacorta, Leonardo, 2008. "How do banks set interest rates?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 792-819, July.
    6. Solange Berstein & J. Rodrigo Fuentes, 2004. "Is There Lendign Rate Stickiness in the Chilean Banking Industry?," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Luis Antonio Ahumada & J. Rodrigo Fuentes & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Se (ed.),Banking Market Structure and Monetary Policy, edition 1, volume 7, chapter 6, pages 183-210, Central Bank of Chile.
    7. Andries, Natalia & Billon, Steve, 2016. "Retail bank interest rate pass-through in the euro area: An empirical survey," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 170-194.
    8. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2010_010 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Michiel van Leuvensteijn & Christoffer Kok Sørensen & Jacob A. Bikker & Adrian A.R.J.M. van Rixtel, 2013. "Impact of bank competition on the interest rate pass-through in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(11), pages 1359-1380, April.
    10. Bennouna, Hicham, 2019. "Interest rate pass-through in Morocco: Evidence from bank-level survey data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 142-157.
    11. Solange Berstein J. & Rodrigo Fuentes S., 2003. "From Policy Rates to Bank Lending Rates: The Chilean Banking Industry," Journal Economía Chilena (The Chilean Economy), Central Bank of Chile, vol. 6(1), pages 49-67, April.
    12. Kwapil, Claudia & Scharler, Johann, 2010. "Interest rate pass-through, monetary policy rules and macroeconomic stability," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 236-251, March.
    13. de Bondt, Gabe, 2002. "Retail bank interest rate pass-through: new evidence at the euro area level," Working Paper Series 136, European Central Bank.
    14. Kleimeier, Stefanie & Sander, Harald, 2006. "Expected versus unexpected monetary policy impulses and interest rate pass-through in euro-zone retail banking markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1839-1870, July.
    15. Putkuri, Hanna, 2010. "Housing loan rate margins in Finland," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 10/2010, Bank of Finland.
    16. Sander, H. & Kleimeier, S., 2004. "Expected versus unexpected monetary policy impulses and interest rate pass-through in eurozone retail banking," Research Memorandum 001, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    17. Leonardo Gambacorta & S. Iannotti, 2007. "Are there asymmetries in the response of bank interest rates to monetary shocks?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(19), pages 2503-2517.
    18. Michiel van Leuvensteijn & Christoffer Kok Sørensen & Jacob A. Bikker & Adrian A.R.J.M. van Rixtel, 2013. "Impact of bank competition on the interest rate pass-through in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(11), pages 1359-1380, April.
    19. Kok, Christoffer & Werner, Thomas, 2006. "Bank interest rate pass-through in the euro area: a cross country comparison," Working Paper Series 580, European Central Bank.
    20. Leontieva, E.A. & Perevyshin, Y.N., 2015. "Credit Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission in Russia," Published Papers 431505, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    21. Bruggeman, Annick & Donnay, Marie, 2003. "A monthly monetary model with banking intermediation for the euro area," Working Paper Series 264, European Central Bank.

    More about this item

    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:zbw:bubdp1:4176. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dbbgvde.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.