Change of main bank function and its meaning in corporate governance

人们普遍认为，主要银行作为公司的贷款人、股东和董事来源，在日本企业融资中发挥了重要作用。然而，近年来，企业与其主要银行之间的关系发生了变化。本文对主要银行的基本职能--代理成本降低效应进行了实证分析。其目的是揭示主要银行关系随着时间的推移发生的变化及其背后的因素。我们的结果表明，即使在资本市场受到监管的情况下，主要银行是否可能扮演提供借款公司信息的角色并不清楚，这些信息具有降低代理成本的效果。然而，在资本市场自由化之后，没有观察到明显的降低代理成本的效果。这支持了这样一种观点，即受到严格监管的资本市场对于主要银行有效发挥作用是必要的，但也存在Uneni…我们的分析表明，在观察到的变化背后，是由于资本市场自由化而能够发行债券的优质公司的主要银行关系被削弱，而信誉较差的公司之间的主要银行关系相应地得到维护和加强。随着金融体系改革的继续，很可能会有更多的公司将削弱它们的主要银行关系。因此，很难找到主要银行吸收个人储蓄并将其转给大公司的理由。未来，可能只有规模较小的公司不披露需要与主要银行建立密切关系的信息。为了适应金融环境的这些变化，银行迫切需要摆脱目前对抵押品的痴迷，并增强评估技术和业务可行性的能力。较少

It is generally understood that the main bank has played a major role in Japanese corporate finance as a lender to firms, a shareholder, and a source of directors. In recent years, however, changes have been observed in the relationship between firms and their main banks.This paper contains an empirical analysis of the agency cost reduction effect, the basic function of the main bank. Its purpose is to uncover the changes that have occurred over time in the main bank relationship and the factors behind them. Our results indicate that even when the capital markets were regulated, it is not clear that the main bank might play the role of producing information about borrowing firms which had the effect of reducing their agency costs. After the capital markets had been liberalized, however, no clear agency cost reduction effect was observed. This supports the view that tightly regulated capital markets are necessary for main banks to play their role effectively, but there is also an undeni … More able possibility that banks exploit firms that have no resort to other means of fund-raising.Our analysis indicates that behind the changes observed were a weakening of the main bank relationships of quality firms that were able, thanks to the liberalization of capital markets, to issue bonds, and a corresponding maintenance and strengthening of the main bank relationship among less creditworthy firms.As reforms to the financial system continue, it is likely that greater numbers of firms will weaken their main bank relationships. It is therefore difficult to discover a raison d'etre for the main bank in absorbing personal savings and chaneling it to large firms. In the future, it may be only smaller firms who do not disclose information that require close relationships with a main bank. To adapt to these changes in the financial environment, it is urgent that banks wean themselves from their current obsession with collateral and strengthen their ability to evaluate technology and business feasibility. Less