In this paper, to begin with, we define soft information as qualitative, subjective information produced by banks through the establishment of long-term lending relationships. We then highlight the importance of soft information for cooperative and social banks in the screening, pricing and...

Die aktuelle wirtschaftliche Lage der Banken in Deutschland ist durch anhaltenden Margendruck und steigende Risiken insbesondere im mittelständischen Firmenkundenkreditgeschäft gekennzeichnet. Deutschland gilt bereits seit geraumer Zeit als "overbanked". Parallel dazu wird eine abnehmende...

Nicht der Wind, die Segel bestimmen den Kurs.(Michael Fuchs, deutscher Außenhandelspräsident) Diese Worte machen deutlich, dass nicht der Wind beeinflussbar ist, sondernlediglich die Segel das Mittel sind, um vorwärts zu kommen, wenn der Wind abflaut oder sich ein Sturm über das Schiff...

Credit risk stands out as the most detrimental risk to which Banking business is exposed to. Co-operative banks which have proved to be vessels of rural development and financial inclusion, have been susceptible to credit risk throughout their history. The Prudential Norms of Income Recognition...

Our aim is to empirically assess differences in behaviour and performance of European cooperative and commercial banks in a low interest rate environment. We employ dynamic panel data methods to assess the relative performance of both ownership structures based on a data set of nearly 1,000...

The structural diversity of the German banking market and the associated variety of business models is thought to have been an important factor in the stability of the German banking market in recent decades. This diversity is manifested both in the three-pillar structure of the German banking...

The contribution of institutionally diversified financial sectors to more sustainable growth and financial stability-in particular the role of effective local banking structures—is not always fully appreciated, whether in the context of development cooperation or in policy discussions in the...