Bank–customer relationships, Multiple bank relationships, Relationship banking, Small firm finance, G21, G32, L14, L26,

No abstract

This paper investigates changes in the number of bank relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland from 1996Switzerland from to 2002 It differentiates between overall bank relationships and lending relationships and disaggregates the loan market with respect to firm sizes, industries and banking groups. On average, bank lending declined, and the concentration of lending relationships increased. The changes seem to have been driven by demand and supply for medium-sized firms, but only by supply for micro and small firms. Supply-side reductions resulted from a merger and changes in credit risk management by major banks. We find evidence of increasing specialization of larger banks on transaction lending and of smaller and regional banks on relationship lending.(J.E.L.: G21, G32).