 Bank information rents and loan pricing: How U.S. banks extract higher spreads than European banksXiaodan Li, Run-Chuan Qin, Wei-Zhong Shi and Min-Teh Yu International Review of Financial Analysis, 2025, vol. 104, issue PA Abstract: This paper investigates the global loan pricing puzzle, focusing on the significantly higher interest rate spreads in the U.S. compared to the European market. Using syndicated loan data from U.S. and European firms between 1992 and 2014, we find that bank information rents are the primary driver behind this disparity. U.S. banks leverage their informational advantages to extract higher borrowing costs from firms, particularly through credit lines, where their pricing power is most pronounced. In contrast, European firms benefit from a more competitive lending environment, where relationship lending practices result in lower interest rate spreads. Additionally, we find that these cost differences are more substantial during non-recessionary periods, suggesting that market structure and lender behavior, rather than macroeconomic downturns, explain the persistent spread differences between the two regions. Keywords: Global loan pricing puzzle; Banking relationships; Loan type; Borrower recession (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finana:v:104:y:2025:i:pa:s1057521925004326 DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104345 Access Statistics for this article International Review of Financial Analysis is currently edited by B.M. Lucey More articles in International Review of Financial Analysis from Elsevier |
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