To Build or to Buy? The Role of Local Information in Credit Market Development

Exploiting the heterogeneity in legal constraints on local bank employees’ mobility, I show that access to local information influences banks’ modes of expansion. As restrictions on interbank labor mobility are relaxed, banks entering a new market establish branches directly instead of acquiring incumbent branches, resulting in a shift of composition of entrants. The treatment effect is strengthened when information asymmetries between local banks and entrants are severe. Furthermore, I find a surge in the volume and a reduction in the rates of local small business loans originated by surrounding incumbent banks after the entry of outside banks, especially after entrants establish new branches.

This paper was accepted by Lauren Cohen, finance.