IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedgfe/2008-34.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does distance matter in banking?

Author

Abstract

Deregulation and technological change have reduced the transactions costs that led to the dominance of local financial service suppliers, leading some to question if distance still matters in banking. This debate has been particularly acute in small business banking, where transactions costs are believed to be particularly high. This paper provides a detailed review of the literature on distance in banking markets, highlighting the reasons why geographic proximity is believed to be important and examining the changes that may have affected its importance. Relying on new data from the 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances, we examine how distances between small firms and their financial service suppliers changed over the 1993-2003 decade. Our analysis reveals that distances increased, though the extent varied substantially across financial services and supplier types. Generally, increases were observed in the early half of the decade, while distances declined in the following five years. There was also a trend towards less in person interaction between small firms and their suppliers of financial services. Nevertheless, most relationships remained local, with a median distance of 5 miles in 2003. The results suggest that distance, while perhaps not as tyrannical as in the past, remains an important factor in banking.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth P. Brevoort & John D. Wolken, 2008. "Does distance matter in banking?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2008-34, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2008-34
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2008/200834/200834abs.html
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2008/200834/200834pap.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    2. Claudia M. Buch, 2005. "Distance and International Banking," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 787-804, September.
    3. DeYoung, Robert & Frame, W. Scott & Glennon, Dennis & McMillen, Daniel P. & Nigro, Peter, 2008. "Commercial lending distance and historically underserved areas," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 60(1-2), pages 149-164.
    4. Kenneth P. Brevoort & Timothy H. Hannan, 2004. "Commercial lending and distance: evidence from Community Reinvestment Act data," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-24, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Pita Barros, Pedro, 1999. "Multimarket competition in banking, with an example from the Portuguese market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 335-352, April.
    6. Allen N. Berger & Gregory F. Udell, 2002. "Small Business Credit Availability and Relationship Lending: The Importance of Bank Organisational Structure," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 32-53, February.
    7. Kallberg, Jarl G. & Udell, Gregory F., 2003. "The value of private sector business credit information sharing: The US case," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 449-469, March.
    8. Hans Degryse & Luc Laeven & Steven Ongena, 2009. "The Impact of Organizational Structure and Lending Technology on Banking Competition," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 13(2), pages 225-259.
    9. Raphael W. Bostic & Glenn B. Canner, 1998. "New information on lending to small businesses and small farms: the 1996 CRA data," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 84(Jan), pages 1-21, January.
    10. Gregory E. Elliehausen & John D. Wolken, 1990. "Banking markets and the use of financial services by small and medium- sized businesses," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Oct, pages 801-817.
    11. Hans Degryse, 2004. "The Impact of Technology and Regulation on the Geographical Scope of Banking," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 20(4), pages 571-590, Winter.
    12. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2533-2570, December.
    13. Robert M. Adams & Kenneth P. Brevoort & Elizabeth K. Kiser, 2007. "Who Competes With Whom? The Case Of Depository Institutions," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 141-167, March.
    14. Traci L. Mach & John D. Wolken, 2006. "Financial services used by small businesses: evidence from the 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 92(Oct), pages 167-195.
    15. Hannan, Timothy H. & Prager, Robin A., 2004. "The competitive implications of multimarket bank branching," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 1889-1914, August.
    16. Almazan, Andres, 2002. "A Model of Competition in Banking: Bank Capital vs Expertise," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 87-121, January.
    17. Giovanni Dell'Ariccia & Ezra Friedman & Robert Marquez, 1999. "Adverse Selection as a Barrier to Entry in the Banking Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 30(3), pages 515-534, Autumn.
    18. Berger, Allen N & Frame, W Scott & Miller, Nathan H, 2005. "Credit Scoring and the Availability, Price, and Risk of Small Business Credit," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 191-222, April.
    19. Pietro ALESSANDRINI & Andrea PRESBITERO & Alberto ZAZZARO, 2006. "Banks, Distances and Financing Constraints for Firms," Working Papers 266, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    20. Myron L. Kwast & Martha Starr-McCluer & John D. Wolken, 1997. "Market definition and the analysis of antitrust in banking," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-52, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    21. Loretta J. Mester, 1997. "What's the point of credit scoring?," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Sep, pages 3-16.
    22. Elizabeth K. Kiser, 2004. "Modeling the whole firm: the effect of multiple inputs and financial intermediation on bank deposit rates," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-07, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    23. Kwangwoo Park & George Pennacchi, 2009. "Harming Depositors and Helping Borrowers: The Disparate Impact of Bank Consolidation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 1-40, January.
    24. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2000. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," NBER Working Papers 7685, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Dean F. Amel & Kenneth P. Brevoort, 2005. "The Perceived Size Of Small Business Banking Markets," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(4), pages 771-784.
    26. W. Scott Frame & Lynn Woosley, 2004. "Credit Scoring and the Availability of Small Business Credit in Low‐ and Moderate‐Income Areas," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 35-54, February.
    27. Chiappori, Pierre-Andre & Perez-Castrillo, David & Verdier, Thierry, 1995. "Spatial competition in the banking system: Localization, cross subsidies and the regulation of deposit rates," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 889-918, May.
    28. Dean F. Amel & Martha Starr-McCluer, 2001. "Market definition in banking: recent evidence," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-16, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    29. Pietro Alessandrini & Manuela Croci & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "The Geography of Banking Power: The Role of Functional Distance," Springer Books, in: Damiano Bruno Silipo (ed.), The Banks and the Italian Economy, chapter 0, pages 93-123, Springer.
    30. Donald D. Hester & Giorgio Calcagnini & Riccardo De Bonis, 2001. "Competition Through Innovation: ATMs in Italian Banks," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 359-382.
    31. Shaffer, Sherrill, 1998. "The Winner's Curse in Banking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 359-392, October.
    32. Frame, W Scott & Srinivasan, Aruna & Woosley, Lynn, 2001. "The Effect of Credit Scoring on Small-Business Lending," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(3), pages 813-825, August.
    33. Timothy Hannan, 2003. "Changes in Non-Local Lending to Small Business," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 24(1), pages 31-46, August.
    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. Knyazeva, Anzhela & Knyazeva, Diana, 2012. "Does being your bank’s neighbor matter?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1194-1209.
    2. Sedunov, John, 2020. "Small banks and consumer satisfaction," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. van der Plaat, Mark, 2020. "Loan sales and the tyranny of tistance in U.S. residential mortgage lending," MPRA Paper 107519, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Apr 2021.
    4. Friederike Niepmann, 2013. "Banking across borders with heterogeneous banks," Staff Reports 609, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    5. Milani, Carlo, 2014. "Borrower–lender distance and loan default rates: Macro evidence from the Italian local markets," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 1-21.
    6. Andrea F. Presbitero & Gregory F. Udell & Alberto Zazzaro, 2014. "The Home Bias and the Credit Crunch: A Regional Perspective," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(s1), pages 53-85, February.
    7. Christian Beer & Walter Waschiczek, 2017. "What is the financial sector’s contribution to the Austrian economy?," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q2/17, pages 54-72.
    8. Michael King, 2012. "Is Mobile Banking Breaking the Tyranny of Distance to Bank Infrastructure? Evidence from Kenya," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp412, IIIS.
    9. Pietro Alessandrini & Andrea Filippo Presbitero & Alberto Zazzaro, 2008. "Global Banking and Local Markets," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 4, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    10. Bellucci, Andrea & Borisov, Alexander & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2013. "Do banks price discriminate spatially? Evidence from small business lending in local credit markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4183-4197.
    11. Bellucci, Andrea & Borisov, Alexander & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2010. "Does gender matter in bank-firm relationships? Evidence from small business lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2968-2984, December.
    12. Victor Aguirregabiria & Robert Clark & Hui Wang, 2016. "Diversification of geographic risk in retail bank networks: evidence from bank expansion after the Riegle-Neal Act," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 47(3), pages 529-572, August.
    13. Owen, Ann L. & Temesvary, Judit, 2014. "What determines cross-border bank lending and risk-taking? The effects of culture, geography, institutions, and information exchange," MPRA Paper 57692, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina & Grajzl, Peter & Guse, A. Joseph & Todd, Richard M., 2015. "Consumer credit on American Indian reservations," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 518-540.
    15. Zarutskie, Rebecca, 2013. "Competition, financial innovation and commercial bank loan portfolios," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 373-396.
    16. Paunic, Alida, 2009. "I did it my way," MPRA Paper 17547, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Nabi, Mahmoud Sami & Ben Souissi, Souraya, 2011. "Could dishonest banks be disciplined ?," MPRA Paper 32010, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Degryse, H.A. & Cerqueiro, G.M. & Ongena, S., 2007. "Distance, Bank Organizational Structure and Credit," Other publications TiSEM 34c2f607-3395-4fd9-9c52-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Allen N. Berger & Astrid A. Dick & Lawrence G. Goldberg & Lawrence White, 2005. "The Effects of Competition from Large, Multimarket Firms on the Performance of Small, Single-Market Firms: Evidence from the Banking Industry," Working Papers 05-02, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    3. Bellucci, Andrea & Borisov, Alexander & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2013. "Do banks price discriminate spatially? Evidence from small business lending in local credit markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4183-4197.
    4. Pietro Alessandrini & Manuela Croci & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "The Geography of Banking Power: The Role of Functional Distance," Springer Books, in: Damiano Bruno Silipo (ed.), The Banks and the Italian Economy, chapter 0, pages 93-123, Springer.
    5. 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.
    6. Pietro Alessandrini & Luca Papi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2003. "Banche, territorio e sviluppo," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 56(221), pages 3-43.
    7. Djedidi-Kooli, Salima, 2009. "L’accès au financement des PME en France : quel rôle joué par la structure du système bancaire ?," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/8354 edited by Etner, François.
    8. DeYoung, Robert & Glennon, Dennis & Nigro, Peter, 2008. "Borrower-lender distance, credit scoring, and loan performance: Evidence from informational-opaque small business borrowers," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 113-143, January.
    9. Inderst, Roman & Mueller, Holger M., 2007. "A lender-based theory of collateral," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 826-859, June.
    10. Cerqueiro, Geraldo & Degryse, Hans & Ongena, Steven, 2011. "Rules versus discretion in loan rate setting," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 503-529, October.
    11. DeYoung, Robert & Frame, W. Scott & Glennon, Dennis & McMillen, Daniel P. & Nigro, Peter, 2008. "Commercial lending distance and historically underserved areas," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 60(1-2), pages 149-164.
    12. Adams, Robert M. & Brevoort, Kenneth P. & Driscoll, John C., 2023. "Is lending distance really changing? Distance dynamics and loan composition in small business lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    13. Allen N. Berger & Astrid A. Dick & Lawrence G. Goldberg & Lawrence J. White, 2007. "Competition from Large, Multimarket Firms and the Performance of Small, Single‐Market Firms: Evidence from the Banking Industry," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(2‐3), pages 331-368, March.
    14. Durguner, Sena, 2017. "Do borrower-lender relationships still matter for small business loans?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 98-118.
    15. Luca Papi & Emma Sarno & Alberto Zazzaro, 2017. "The geographical network of bank organizations: issues and evidence for Italy," Chapters, in: Ron Martin & Jane Pollard (ed.), Handbook on the Geographies of Money and Finance, chapter 8, pages 156-196, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Lin Tian & Liang Han, 2019. "How local is local? Evidence from bank competition and corporate innovation in U.S," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 289-324, January.
    17. Jiménez, Gabriel & Salas, Vicente & Saurina, Jesús, 2009. "Organizational distance and use of collateral for business loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 234-243, February.
    18. Giacinto Micucci & Paola Rossi, 2010. "Debt restructuring and the role of lending technologies," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 763, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    19. Nathan H. Miller, 2008. "Competition When Consumers Value Firm Scope," EAG Discussions Papers 200807, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
    20. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2004. "The Impact of Competition on Bank Orientation and Specialization (new titel: The impact of competition on bank orientation)," CESifo Working Paper Series 1119, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Banks and banking; Small business;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fip:fedgfe:2008-34. 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: Ryan Wolfslayer ; Keisha Fournillier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbgvus.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.