We investigate the effect of poor performance on financial intermediary reputation by estimating the effect of large-scale bankruptcies among a lead arranger's borrowers on its subsequent syndication activity. Consistent with reputation damage, such lead arrangers retain larger fractions of the...

We examine the effect of bank mergers on the price and availability of credit in the residential mortgage market. We find that, compared to non-acquiring banks in the same local market, acquiring banks that gain large market shares charge significantly higher interest rates but also lend larger...

In extant theories of why banks exist, banks originate and hold loans, and this skin in the game is essential for the provision of intermediation services. In reality, loans are traded in secondary markets, raising the question: does trading diminish the value of the bank's core intermediation...

As opposed to the public debt market, the ultimate users of bank loan ratings, lenders, may prefer inflated ratings to reduce their risk-weighted assets. By exploiting variation in borrower information asymmetry, and thus rating agencies' ability to acquiesce to lender demands, we provide...