Cross Ownership, Loan Commitment, Managerial Delegation and the “Prisoner’s Dilemma”

This paper investigates the relationship between cross ownership, sales delegation and loan commitment. We find that under sales delegation, a higher degree of cross ownership decreases the optimal bank loan interest rate, which is beneficial to the firm profits. However, cross ownership reduces the firm output, leading a lower consumer surplus and social welfare. The policy implication is that antitrust authority and banking regulatory bureau should “coordinate” policies to mitigate the concerned stakeholders’ conflicts.