IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v72y2023icp214-231.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Legal enforcement and fintech credit: International evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Peng, Hongfeng
  • Ji, Jiao
  • Sun, Hanwen
  • Xu, Haofeng

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the quality of legal institutions is negatively associated with the interest rates of business loans. Fintech lending, with improved ex ante risk-sharing practices that change the approach to credit provision, presents a challenge to the traditional relationship between law and finance. Compiling and studying over five million fintech loans from 24 countries, we show that, in comparison to traditional bank loans, the quality of legal enforcement matters less to the cost of fintech credit. Nonetheless, the impact of legal protection on the interest rates of fintech credit is more persistent when (1) the loans bear higher risk, (2) the fintech platforms have fewer risk-sharing tools, and (3) borrowers’ jurisdictions have fewer information-sharing channels. Our study contributes to the debate on the role of legal protection in the fintech credit market.

Suggested Citation

  • Peng, Hongfeng & Ji, Jiao & Sun, Hanwen & Xu, Haofeng, 2023. "Legal enforcement and fintech credit: International evidence," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 214-231.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:72:y:2023:i:c:p:214-231
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2023.03.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539823000294
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jempfin.2023.03.007?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Rajkamal Iyer & Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Erzo F. P. Luttmer & Kelly Shue, 2016. "Screening Peers Softly: Inferring the Quality of Small Borrowers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1554-1577, June.
    3. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    4. Andreas Fuster & Matthew Plosser & Philipp Schnabl & James Vickery, 2019. "The Role of Technology in Mortgage Lending," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1854-1899.
    5. Brown, Martin & Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco, 2009. "Information sharing and credit: Firm-level evidence from transition countries," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 151-172, April.
    6. Francesco D’Acunto & Nagpurnanand Prabhala & Alberto G Rossi, 2019. "The Promises and Pitfalls of Robo-Advising," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1983-2020.
    7. Stijn Claessens & Jon Frost & Grant Turner & Feng Zhu, 2018. "Fintech credit markets around the world: size, drivers and policy issues," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    8. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    9. Yaxuan Qi & Lukas Roth & John K Wald, 2011. "How legal environments affect the use of bond covenants," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(2), pages 235-262, February.
    10. Luc Renneboog & Peter G. Szilagyi & Cara Vansteenkiste, 2017. "Creditor rights, claims enforcement, and bond performance in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(2), pages 174-194, February.
    11. Cho, Seong-Soon & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Suh, Jungwon, 2014. "Creditor rights and capital structure: Evidence from international data," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 40-60.
    12. Simeon Djankov & Oliver Hart & Caralee McLiesh & Andrei Shleifer, 2008. "Debt Enforcement around the World," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(6), pages 1105-1149, December.
    13. Calomiris, Charles W. & Larrain, Mauricio & Liberti, José & Sturgess, Jason, 2017. "How collateral laws shape lending and sectoral activity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 163-188.
    14. Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco, 2002. "Information sharing, lending and defaults: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 2017-2045, October.
    15. José M. Liberti & Atif R. Mian, 2010. "Collateral Spread and Financial Development," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 147-177, February.
    16. Tobias Berg & Valentin Burg & Ana Gombović & Manju Puri, 2020. "On the Rise of FinTechs: Credit Scoring Using Digital Footprints," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(7), pages 2845-2897.
    17. Utpal Bhattacharya & Hazem Daouk, 2009. "When No Law is Better Than a Good Law," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 13(4), pages 577-627.
    18. Treleaven, Philip, 2015. "Financial regulation of FinTech," Journal of Financial Perspectives, EY Global FS Institute, vol. 3(3), pages 114-121.
    19. Julapa Jagtiani & Catharine Lemieux, 2019. "The roles of alternative data and machine learning in fintech lending: Evidence from the LendingClub consumer platform," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 1009-1029, December.
    20. Huan Tang, 2019. "Peer-to-Peer Lenders Versus Banks: Substitutes or Complements?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1900-1938.
    21. Favara, Giovanni & Morellec, Erwan & Schroth, Enrique & Valta, Philip, 2017. "Debt enforcement, investment, and risk taking across countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 22-41.
    22. Sebastian Di Tella, 2019. "Optimal Regulation of Financial Intermediaries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 271-313, January.
    23. Freedman, Seth & Jin, Ginger Zhe, 2017. "The information value of online social networks: Lessons from peer-to-peer lending," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 185-222.
    24. Acharya, Viral V. & Amihud, Yakov & Litov, Lubomir, 2011. "Creditor rights and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 150-166, October.
    25. Mingfeng Lin & Nagpurnanand R. Prabhala & Siva Viswanathan, 2013. "Judging Borrowers by the Company They Keep: Friendship Networks and Information Asymmetry in Online Peer-to-Peer Lending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 17-35, August.
    26. Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2007. "How Laws and Institutions Shape Financial Contracts: The Case of Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2803-2834, December.
    27. Boris Vallée & Yao Zeng, 2019. "Marketplace Lending: A New Banking Paradigm?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1939-1982.
    28. Jiang, Cuixia & Xu, Qifa & Zhang, Weiming & Li, Mengting & Yang, Shanlin, 2018. "Does automatic bidding mechanism affect herding behavior? Evidence from online P2P lending in China," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 39-44.
    29. Renneboog, Luc & Szilagyi, Peter & Vansteenkiste, Cara, 2017. "Creditor rights, claims enforcement, and bond returns in mergers and acquisitions," Other publications TiSEM ef3ad779-66b4-4fca-a8e8-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    30. Kee‐Hong Bae & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Creditor Rights, Enforcement, and Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 823-860, April.
    31. Thomas Hildebrand & Manju Puri & Jörg Rocholl, 2017. "Adverse Incentives in Crowdfunding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(3), pages 587-608, March.
    32. Giulio Cornelli & Jon Frost & Leonardo Gambacorta & Raghavendra Rau & Robert Wardrop & Tania Ziegler, 2020. "Fintech and big tech credit: a new database," BIS Working Papers 887, Bank for International Settlements.
    33. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2006. "Bank concentration, competition, and crises: First results," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1581-1603, May.
    34. Shah, Attaullah & Shah, Hamid Ali & Smith, Jason M. & Labianca, Giuseppe (Joe), 2017. "Judicial efficiency and capital structure: An international study," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 255-274.
    35. Adair Morse, 2015. "Peer-to-Peer Crowdfunding: Information and the Potential for Disruption in Consumer Lending," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 463-482, December.
    36. Christian Haddad & Lars Hornuf, 2019. "The emergence of the global fintech market: economic and technological determinants," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 81-105, June.
    37. Adair Morse, 2015. "Peer-to-Peer Crowdfunding: Information and the Potential for Disruption in Consumer Lending," NBER Working Papers 20899, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. Houston, Joel F. & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Ma, Yue, 2010. "Creditor rights, information sharing, and bank risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 485-512, June.
    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. Tobias Berg & Andreas Fuster & Manju Puri, 2022. "FinTech Lending," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 187-207, November.
    2. Mathur, Ike & Marcelin, Isaac, 2015. "Institutional failure or market failure?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 266-280.
    3. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Chuck C Y Kwok & Ying Zheng, 2021. "The role of creditor rights on capital structure and product market interactions: International evidence," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(1), pages 121-147, February.
    4. Bollaert, Helen & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2021. "Fintech and access to finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    5. Kowalewski, Oskar & Pisany, Paweł, 2022. "Banks' consumer lending reaction to fintech and bigtech credit emergence in the context of soft versus hard credit information processing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Kose John & Mahsa S Kaviani & Lawrence Kryzanowski & Hosein Maleki, 2021. "Do Country-Level Creditor Protections Affect Firm-Level Debt Structure Concentration? [Why not a political Coase theorem? Social conflict, commitment, and politics]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(6), pages 1677-1725.
    7. Nicola Branzoli & Ilaria Supino, 2020. "FinTech credit: a critical review of empirical research," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 549, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    8. Serena Gallo, 2021. "Fintech platforms: Lax or careful borrowers’ screening?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-33, December.
    9. Love, Inessa & Peria, Maria Soledad Martinez & Singh, Sandeep, 2013. "Collateral registries for movable assets : does their introduction spur firms'access to bank finance ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6477, The World Bank.
    10. Wang, Jin-Meng & Cheng, Teng Yuan, 2023. "Do the differences in legal systems hinder international enterprises’ debt financing?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    11. Douglas Cumming & Minjie Zhang, 2023. "Bankruptcy law and angel investors around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(7), pages 1256-1277, September.
    12. Sunghun Chung & Keongtae Kim & Chul Ho Lee & Wonseok Oh, 2023. "Interdependence between online peer‐to‐peer lending and cryptocurrency markets and its effects on financial inclusion," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(6), pages 1939-1957, June.
    13. Bitar, Mohammad & Tarazi, Amine, 2019. "Creditor rights and bank capital decisions: Conventional vs. Islamic banking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 69-104.
    14. Wang, Xiaoting & Hou, Siyuan & Kyaw, Khine & Xue, Xupeng & Liu, Xueqin, 2023. "Exploring the determinants of Fintech Credit: A comprehensive analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    15. Boyd, John & Hakenes, Hendrik & Heitz, Amanda, 2018. "The Effects of Creditor Rights and Bank Information Sharing on Borrower Behavior: Theory and Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181565, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Mc Namara, Andrea & Murro, Pierluigi & O'Donohoe, Sheila, 2017. "Countries lending infrastructure and capital structure determination: The case of European SMEs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 122-138.
    17. Kalyvas, Antonios Nikolaos & Mamatzakis, Emmanuel, 2017. "Do creditor rights and information sharing affect the performance of foreign banks?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 13-35.
    18. Tetyana Balyuk, 2023. "FinTech Lending and Bank Credit Access for Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 555-575, January.
    19. Eccles, Peter & Grout, Paul & Siciliani, Paolo & Zalewska, Anna, 2021. "The impact of machine learning and big data on credit markets," Bank of England working papers 930, Bank of England.
    20. Hakenes, Hendrik & Boyd, John H. & Heitz, Amanda Rae, 2016. "The Effects of Creditor Rights and Bank Information Sharing on Borrower Behavior: Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 11699, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Legal enforcement; Fintech credit; Risk sharing; Information sharing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • K49 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Other

    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:eee:empfin:v:72:y:2023:i:c:p:214-231. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jempfin .

    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.