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Is a Friend in Need a Friend Indeed? How Relationship Borrowers Fare during the COVID-19 Crisis

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  • Allen N. Berger
  • Christa H. S. Bouwman
  • Lars Norden
  • Raluca Roman
  • Gregory F. Udell

Abstract

We analyze loan contract terms, investigating whether relationship borrowers fare better or worse than others in times of need, using the COVID-19 crisis as a quasi-natural experiment. COVID-19 is superior to prior crises for such analysis because its public health and government restrictions shocks directly harm borrowers, rather than banks. Our dataset includes Y-14Q, covering syndicated and non syndicated loans and small and large firms, unlike some other datasets. We find the dark side of relationships dominates across four relationship measures, 14 COVID-19 shocks, and PPP participation. There are limited pockets of bright-side findings associated with smaller firms and smaller banks.

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  • Allen N. Berger & Christa H. S. Bouwman & Lars Norden & Raluca Roman & Gregory F. Udell, 2021. "Is a Friend in Need a Friend Indeed? How Relationship Borrowers Fare during the COVID-19 Crisis," Working Papers 21-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:90420
    DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2021.13
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    Cited by:

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    2. Sapriza, Horacio & Temesvary, Judit, 2024. "Economic activity and the bank credit channel," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    3. Couaillier, Cyril & Reghezza, Alessio & Rodriguez d’Acri, Costanza & Scopelliti, Alessandro, 2025. "How to release capital requirements in an economic downturn? Evidence from euro area credit register," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Lo, Andrew W. & Thakor, Richard T., 2023. "Financial intermediation and the funding of biomedical innovation: A review," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Banerjee, Ryan N. & Gambacorta, Leonardo & Sette, Enrico, 2021. "The real effects of relationship lending✰," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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