Differentiated Use of Small Business Credit Scoring by Relationship Lenders and Transactional Lenders: Evidence from firm-bank matched data in Japan

This paper examines the ex-post performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that obtained small business credit scoring (SBCS) loans. Using a unique Japanese firm-bank matched dataset, we identify whether an SME has obtained an SBCS loan and, if so, from which type of bank: a relationship lender or a transactional lender. We find that the ex-post probability of default after the SBCS loan was provided significantly increased for SMEs that obtained an SBCS loan from a transactional lender. We also find that the lending attitude of relationship lenders in the midst of the recent global financial crisis became much more severe if a transactional lender had extended an SBCS loan to a firm. These findings suggest that SBCS loans by a transactional lender are detrimental to a relationship lender's incentive to monitor SMEs and maintain relationships. In contrast, we do not find such detrimental effects for SBCS loans extended by a relationship lender.