Utilization of Soft Information on Bank Performance: The Roles of Relationship Lending in Competitive Local Markets

This book explores the effects of soft information utilization in the decision process for lenders, especially concerning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in regional markets. This study is one of the first to use questionnaire survey data from lender representatives, and analyzes the relationship between the financial metrics of a lender’s performance and soft information factors in inter-bank competition. The authors’ empirical results suggest that utilizing soft information allo...