IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v64y2024i2p1613-1636.html

How do big customers influence bank loans in China? The role of state ownership and political connections

Author

Listed:
  • Li Deng
  • Peng Huang
  • Yue Lu
  • Hongjie Weng

Abstract

Firms with big customers are associated with not only high operational efficiency but also high operational risks. We study the effect of big customers on various aspects of bank loan contracts using a manually collected contract‐level dataset from China over the period of 2001–2016. We find that, big customers help firms obtain lower borrowing interest rates, longer loan duration, and larger loan amounts, though this is accompanied by more restrictive borrowing conditions. We further find that state ownership and political connections are important considerations when banks make loan decisions to firms with big customers. Overall, our results show how benefits and costs of big customers are evaluated by banks and priced into bank loan contract terms.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Deng & Peng Huang & Yue Lu & Hongjie Weng, 2024. "How do big customers influence bank loans in China? The role of state ownership and political connections," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(2), pages 1613-1636, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:64:y:2024:i:2:p:1613-1636
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.13194
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.13194
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.13194?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berger, Allen N. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Zhou, Mingming, 2009. "Bank ownership and efficiency in China: What will happen in the world's largest nation?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 113-130, January.
    2. Wang, Jin, 2012. "Do firms' relationships with principal customers/suppliers affect shareholders' income?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 860-878.
    3. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    4. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:1:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Pessarossi, Pierre & Weill, Laurent, 2013. "Choice of corporate debt in China: The role of state ownership," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Graham, John R. & Li, Si & Qiu, Jiaping, 2008. "Corporate misreporting and bank loan contracting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 44-61, July.
    7. Fang, Vivian W. & Noe, Thomas H. & Tice, Sheri, 2009. "Stock market liquidity and firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 150-169, October.
    8. Brandt, Loren & Li, Hongbin, 2003. "Bank discrimination in transition economies: ideology, information, or incentives?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 387-413, September.
    9. Dan Dhaliwal & Paul N. Michas & Vic Naiker & Divesh Sharma, 2020. "Greater Reliance on Major Customers and Auditor Going‐Concern Opinions," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 160-188, March.
    10. Patrick Bolton & David S. Scharfstein, 1998. "Corporate Finance, the Theory of the Firm, and Organizations," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 95-114, Fall.
    11. Kale, Jayant R. & Shahrur, Husayn, 2007. "Corporate capital structure and the characteristics of suppliers and customers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 321-365, February.
    12. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Wang, Qian & Zhou, Li-An, 2008. "Political connections, financing and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese private firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 283-299, October.
    13. Bilei Zhou & Jie (Michael) Guo & Jun Hua & Angelos J. Doukas, 2015. "Does State Ownership Drive M&A Performance? Evidence from China," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 21(1), pages 79-105, January.
    14. Wang, Qian & Wong, T.J. & Xia, Lijun, 2008. "State ownership, the institutional environment, and auditor choice: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 112-134, September.
    15. Maksimovic, Vojislav & Titman, Sheridan, 1991. "Financial Policy and Reputation for Product Quality," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(1), pages 175-200.
    16. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    17. Bussolo, Maurizio & de Nicola, Francesca & Panizza, Ugo & Varghese, Richard, 2022. "Politically connected firms and privileged access to credit: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. Itzkowitz, Jennifer, 2013. "Customers and cash: How relationships affect suppliers' cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 159-180.
    19. Campello, Murillo & Gao, Janet, 2017. "Customer concentration and loan contract terms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 108-136.
    20. Zheng, Ying & Zhu, Yuande, 2013. "Bank lending incentives and firm investment decisions in China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 146-165.
    21. Yan-Shing Chen & Chung-Hua Shen & Chih-Yung Lin, 2014. "The Benefits of Political Connection: Evidence from Individual Bank-Loan Contracts," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 287-305, June.
    22. Titman, Sheridan, 1984. "The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 137-151, March.
    23. Cull, Robert & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2003. "Who gets credit? The behavior of bureaucrats and state banks in allocating credit to Chinese state-owned enterprises," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 533-559, August.
    24. William C. Johnson & Jun‐Koo Kang & Sangho Yi, 2010. "The Certification Role of Large Customers in the New Issues Market," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(4), pages 1425-1474, December.
    25. Meghana Ayyagari & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2010. "Formal versus Informal Finance: Evidence from China," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(8), pages 3048-3097, August.
    26. Hou, Wenxuan & Kuo, Jing-Ming & Lee, Edward, 2012. "The impact of state ownership on share price informativeness: The case of the Split Share Structure Reform in China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 248-261.
    27. Jihong Liu & Yaping Wang & Liansheng Wu, 2011. "The Effect of Guanxi on Audit Quality in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(4), pages 621-638, November.
    28. Zhong Zhao, 2004. "Using Matching to Estimate Treatment Effects: Data Requirements, Matching Metrics, and Monte Carlo Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 91-107, February.
    29. Cao, Xiaping & Cumming, Douglas & Zhou, Sili, 2020. "State ownership and corporate innovative efficiency," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    30. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    31. Jesse A. Ellis & C. Edward Fee & Shawn E. Thomas, 2012. "Proprietary Costs and the Disclosure of Information About Customers," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 50(3), pages 685-727, June.
    32. Dhaliwal, Dan & Judd, J. Scott & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2016. "Customer concentration risk and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-48.
    33. Chen, Jiayuan & Gong, Di & Muckley, Cal, 2020. "Stock market illiquidity, bargaining power and the cost of borrowing," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 181-206.
    34. Boeing, Philipp & Mueller, Elisabeth & Sandner, Philipp, 2016. "China's R&D explosion—Analyzing productivity effects across ownership types and over time," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 159-176.
    35. Pan, Jianping & Yu, Manjiao & Liu, Jiayuan & Fan, Rui, 2020. "Customer concentration and corporate innovation: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    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. Cao, Yue & Dong, Yizhe & Ma, Diandian & Sun, Li, 2021. "Customer concentration and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    2. Liangyan Cao & Wee‐Yeap Lau & Shahrin Saaid Shaharuddin, 2023. "Peer effect of proprietary information: A cost–benefit analysis of customer information disclosure," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(5), pages 2643-2656, July.
    3. Su, Kun & Zhao, Yan & Wang, Yinghui, 2024. "Customer concentration and corporate financialization: Evidence from non-financial firms in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Agnes C. S. Cheng & Wenli Huang & Shaojun Zhang, 2020. "Major government customer and management earnings forecasts," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Cai, Kelly & Zhu, Hui, 2020. "Customer-Supplier relationships and the cost of debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    6. Do, Trung K. & Huang, Henry Hongren & Le, Anh-Tuan, 2023. "Customer concentration and stock liquidity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Song, Byron Y. & Zhang, Yue, 2015. "Earnings performance of major customers and bank loan contracting with suppliers," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 384-398.
    8. Obaid Ur Rehman & Xiaoxing Liu & Kai Wu & Junfeng Li, 2023. "Customer concentration, leverage adjustments, and firm value," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 2035-2079, June.
    9. Jiangming Ma & Di Gao, 2023. "The Impact of Sustainable Supply-Chain Partnership on Bank Loans: Evidence from Chinese-Listed Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, March.
    10. Campello, Murillo & Gao, Janet, 2017. "Customer concentration and loan contract terms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 108-136.
    11. Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Hyun-Dong & Park, Kwangwoo, 2023. "Customer concentration and firm risk: The role of outside directors from a major customer," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    12. Lingchen Liu & Yan Gu & Kung‐Cheng Ho & Chiu‐Lan Chang, 2022. "Customer concentration and analyst following: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 97-110, January.
    13. Cull, Robert & Li, Wei & Sun, Bo & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2015. "Government connections and financial constraints: Evidence from a large representative sample of Chinese firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 271-294.
    14. Lian, Yili, 2017. "Financial distress and customer-supplier relationships," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 397-406.
    15. Tang, Jinghua & Wang, Xiaoming & Liu, Qigui, 2023. "The spillover effect of customers' ESG to suppliers," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Itzkowitz, Jennifer, 2015. "Buyers as stakeholders: How relationships affect suppliers' financial constraints," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 54-66.
    17. Pan, Jianping & Yu, Manjiao & Liu, Jiayuan & Fan, Rui, 2020. "Customer concentration and corporate innovation: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    18. Wongsinhirun, Nopparat & Chatjuthamard, Pattanaporn & Jiraporn, Pornsit & Lee, Sang Mook, 2024. "Customer concentration and shareholder litigation risk: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    19. Dong, Yizhe & Li, Chang & Li, Haoyu, 2021. "Customer concentration and M&A performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    20. Jiang, Wei & Zeng, Yeqin, 2014. "State ownership, bank loans, and corporate investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 92-116.

    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:bla:acctfi:v:64:y:2024:i:2:p:1613-1636. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.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.