IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cns/cnscwp/201314.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Competition, Loan Rates and Information Dispersion in Microcredit Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Andréas Heinen
  • M. Hamadi
  • Guillermo Baquero

Abstract

We describe the competitive environment of microcredit markets globally and we study the effects of competition on loan rates of microfinance institutions (MFIs). We use a new database from rating agencies, covering 379 for-profit and nonprofit MFIs in 67 countries over 2002-2008. First, we find that nonprofits are relatively insensitive to concentration changes, while for-profits charge significantly lower rates in less concentrated markets. We control for interest rate ceilings and other country-specific factors. Second, we find competitive pressures on nonprofits from increased for-profit market share. Third, we show that the effects of concentration are consistent with an information dispersion mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Andréas Heinen & M. Hamadi & Guillermo Baquero, 2013. "Competition, Loan Rates and Information Dispersion in Microcredit Markets," Working Paper CRENoS 201314, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    • Handle: RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://crenos.unica.it/crenos/node/6374
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://crenos.unica.it/crenos/sites/default/files/WP13-14_0.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hannan, Timothy H., 1991. "Bank commercial loan markets and the role of market structure: evidence from surveys of commercial lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 133-149, February.
    2. Stijn Claessens & Luc Laeven, 2004. "What drives bank competition? Some international evidence," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 563-592.
    3. Berger, Allen N. & Scott Frame, W. & Ioannidou, Vasso, 2011. "Tests of ex ante versus ex post theories of collateral using private and public information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 85-97, April.
    4. Berger, Allen N & Hannan, Timothy H, 1989. "The Price-Concentration Relationship in Banking," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(2), pages 291-299, May.
    5. Keeley, Michael C, 1990. "Deposit Insurance, Risk, and Market Power in Banking," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1183-1200, December.
    6. Christopher F Baum & Austin Nichols & Mark E Schaffer, 2010. "Evaluating one-way and two-way cluster-robust covariance matrix estimates," United Kingdom Stata Users' Group Meetings 2010 12, Stata Users Group.
    7. John H. Boyd & Gianni De Nicoló, 2005. "The Theory of Bank Risk Taking and Competition Revisited," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1329-1343, June.
    8. Peltzman, Sam, 1977. "The Gains and Losses from Industrial Concentration," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(2), pages 229-263, October.
    9. Bert Balk, 2001. "Scale Efficiency and Productivity Change," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 159-183, May.
    10. Jayaratne, Jith & Strahan, Philip E, 1998. "Entry Restrictions, Industry Evolution, and Dynamic Efficiency: Evidence from Commercial Banking," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 239-273, April.
    11. Ahlin, Christian & Lin, Jocelyn & Maio, Michael, 2011. "Where does microfinance flourish? Microfinance institution performance in macroeconomic context," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 105-120, July.
    12. Robert M. Feinberg, 2001. "The Competitive Role Of Credit Unions In Small Local Financial Services Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 560-563, August.
    13. Kim, Moshe & Kristiansen, Eirik Gaard & Vale, Bent, 2005. "Endogenous product differentiation in credit markets: What do borrowers pay for?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 681-699, March.
    14. Robert Cull & Asli Demirguç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2007. "Financial performance and outreach: a global analysis of leading microbanks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 107-133, February.
    15. R. Alton Gilbert & Adam M. Zaretsky, 2003. "Banking antitrust: are the assumptions still valid?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 85(Nov), pages 29-52.
    16. Berger, Allen N. & Miller, Nathan H. & Petersen, Mitchell A. & Rajan, Raghuram G. & Stein, Jeremy C., 2005. "Does function follow organizational form? Evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 237-269, May.
    17. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2007. "Governance Matters VI: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators, 1996-2006," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4280, The World Bank.
    18. Valentina Hartarska & Denis Nadolnyak, 2007. "Do regulated microfinance institutions achieve better sustainability and outreach? Cross-country evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(10), pages 1207-1222.
    19. Corvoisier, Sandrine & Gropp, Reint, 2002. "Bank concentration and retail interest rates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(11), pages 2155-2189, November.
    20. Ashoka Mody & Maria Soledad Martinez Peria, 2004. "How foreign participation and market concentration impact bank spreads: evidence from Latin America," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 511-542.
    21. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, 2007. "Reaching out: Access to and use of banking services across countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 234-266, July.
    22. Astrid A. Dick, 2006. "Nationwide Branching and Its Impact on Market Structure, Quality, and Bank Performance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(2), pages 567-592, March.
    23. Rexford E. Santerre & John A. Vernon, 2005. "Hospital Ownership Mix Efficiency in the US: An Exploratory Study," NBER Working Papers 11192, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Gehrig, Thomas, 1998. "Screening, cross-border banking, and the allocation of credit," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 387-407, December.
    25. 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.
    26. Robert Hauswald & Robert Marquez, 2003. "Information Technology and Financial Services Competition," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 921-948, July.
    27. Hirth, Richard A., 1999. "Consumer information and competition between nonprofit and for-profit nursing homes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 219-240, April.
    28. João A. C. Santos & Andrew Winton, 2008. "Bank Loans, Bonds, and Information Monopolies across the Business Cycle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1315-1359, June.
    29. Grabowski, David C. & Hirth, Richard A., 2003. "Competitive spillovers across non-profit and for-profit nursing homes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 1-22, January.
    30. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2014. "Banks and Microbanks," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 1-53, August.
    31. Broecker, Thorsten, 1990. "Credit-Worthiness Tests and Interbank Competition," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(2), pages 429-452, March.
    32. Mark J. Garmaise & Gabriel Natividad, 2010. "Information, the Cost of Credit, and Operational Efficiency: An Empirical Study of Microfinance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(6), pages 2560-2590, June.
    33. Robert Hauswald & Robert Marquez, 2006. "Competition and Strategic Information Acquisition in Credit Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 967-1000.
    34. Paola Sapienza, 2002. "The Effects of Banking Mergers on Loan Contracts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 329-367, February.
    35. Robert Marquez, 2002. "Competition, Adverse Selection, and Information Dispersion in the Banking Industry," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(3), pages 901-926.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hailu Abebe Wondirad, 2022. "Interest rates in microfinance: What is a fair interest rate when we lend to the poor?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4537-4548, December.
    2. Riekhof, Marie-Catherine, 2019. "The insurance premium in the interest rates of interlinked loans in a small-scale fishery," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 87-112, February.
    3. Gregor Dorfleitner & Michaela Leidl & Christopher Priberny & Jakob von Mosch, 2013. "What determines microcredit interest rates?," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(20), pages 1579-1597, October.
    4. Jonathan de Quidt & Thiemo Fetzer & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2018. "Market Structure and Borrower Welfare in Microfinance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(610), pages 1019-1046, May.
    5. Jonathan de Quidt & Thiemo Fetzer & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2018. "Market Structure and Borrower Welfare in Microfinance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(610), pages 1019-1046, May.
    6. Beatriz Cu鬬ar-Fernᮤez & Yolanda Fuertes-Call鮠 & Carlos Serrano-Cinca & Bego uti鲲ez-Nieto, 2016. "Determinants of margin in microfinance institutions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(4), pages 300-311, January.
    7. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2014. "Banks and Microbanks," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 1-53, August.
    8. Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2016. "Buffer capital in microfinance institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3523-3537.
    9. Abrego, Adriana & Guizar, Isai, 2017. "Resilience of Agricultural Microfinance Institutions to Rainfall Shocks," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258031, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Cull, Robert & Harten, Sven & Nishida, Ippei & Rusu, Anca Bogdana & Bull, Greta, 2015. "Benchmarking the financial performance, growth, and outreach of greenfield MFIs in Africa," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 92-124.

    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. Guillermo Baquero & Malika Hamadi & Andréas Heinen, 2018. "Competition, Loan Rates, and Information Dispersion in Nonprofit and For‐Profit Microcredit Markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(5), pages 893-937, August.
    2. Florian Leon, 2015. "What do we know about the role of bank competition in Africa?," CERDI Working papers halshs-01164864, HAL.
    3. Brei, Michael & Jacolin, Luc & Noah, Alphonse, 2020. "Credit risk and bank competition in Sub-Saharan Africa," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    4. Degryse, Hans & Ongena, Steven, 2007. "The impact of competition on bank orientation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 399-424, July.
    5. Mr. Lev Ratnovski, 2013. "Competition Policy for Modern Banks," IMF Working Papers 2013/126, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Jiménez, Gabriel & Lopez, Jose A. & Saurina, Jesús, 2013. "How does competition affect bank risk-taking?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 185-195.
    7. Faten Zoghlami & Yassine Bouchemia, 2021. "Competition in the banking industry, is it beneficial? Evidence from MENA region," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(2), pages 169-179, June.
    8. Soedarmono, Wahyoe & Machrouh, Fouad & Tarazi, Amine, 2013. "Bank competition, crisis and risk taking: Evidence from emerging markets in Asia," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 196-221.
    9. Dima, Bogdan & Dincă, Marius Sorin & Spulbăr, Cristi, 2014. "Financial nexus: Efficiency and soundness in banking and capital markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 100-124.
    10. Beck, Thorsten & De Jonghe, Olivier & Schepens, Glenn, 2013. "Bank competition and stability: Cross-country heterogeneity," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 218-244.
    11. Meriem Haouat & Diego N. Moccero & Ramiro Sosa Navarro, 2012. "Foreign Banks and Credit Volatility: The Case of Latin American Countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 1017-1033, November.
    12. Aadil Nakhoda, 2013. "Bank Competition and Export Diversification," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2013/12, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    13. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    14. Francesco Marchionne & Alberto Zazzaro, 2018. "Risk and competitiveness in the Italian banking sector," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(1), pages 271-280.
    15. Beck, T.H.L. & De Jonghe, O.G. & Schepens, G., 2012. "Bank Competition and Stability : Cross-country Heterogeneity (Revised version of CentER DP 2011-080)," Other publications TiSEM f600cdef-3c8b-4b85-9fed-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    16. International Monetary Fund, 2007. "Italy—Assessing Competition and Efficiency in the Banking System," IMF Working Papers 2007/026, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Canta, Chiara & Nilsen, Øivind A. & Ulsaker, Simen A., 2023. "Competition and risk taking in local bank markets: Evidence from the business loans segment," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 153-169.
    18. Mariarosaria Agostino & Francesco Trivieri, 2010. "Is banking competition beneficial to SMEs? An empirical study based on Italian data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 335-355, October.
    19. Meriem Haouat & Diego N. Moccero & Ramiro Sosa Navarro, 2012. "Foreign Banks and Credit Volatility: The Case of Latin American Countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 1017-1033, November.
    20. Pietro Alessandrini & Luca Papi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2003. "Banks, regions and development," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 56(224), pages 23-55.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    information dispersion; bank competition; nonprofit institutions; microfinance; Loan rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design

    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:cns:cnscwp:201314. 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: CRENoS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/crenoit.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.