Corporate lending by Italian less significant institutions: an empirical analysis

Giorgio Meucci ()
Additional contact information
Giorgio Meucci: Bank of Italy

No 1004, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: This study examines the reasons behind the higher default rates of loans granted by Italian banks categorized as less significant institutions (LSIs) under the Single Supervisory Mechanism compared with those issued by significant institutions (SIs). Using loan-level data matched with firm characteristics, the analysis shows that LSIs tend to serve smaller and riskier firms, which explains much of the observed default differential. After controlling for firm and loan characteristics, the remaining difference is substantially reduced. The pricing applied by LSIs appears broadly aligned with that of SIs, conditional on observable factors. These findings suggest that LSIs may facilitate access to credit for firms with potentially more limited financing opportunities.

Keywords: credit quality; corporate finance; less significant institutions; interest rates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 E51 G21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2026-1004/QEF_1004_26.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_1004_26

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().