The geographic flow of bank funding and access to credit: Branch networks, local synergies and competition

Abstract

Geographic dispersion of depositors, borrowers, and banks may prevent funding from flowing to high loan demand areas, limiting credit access. Using bank-county-year level data, we provide evidence of the geographic imbalance of deposits and loans and develop a methodology for investigating the contribution to this imbalance of branch networks, market power, and scope economies. Results are based on a novel measure of imbalance and estimation of a structural model of bank competition that admits interconnections across locations and between deposit and loan markets. Counterfactual experiments show branch networks and competition contribute importantly to credit flow but benefit more affluent markets.