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Professor Hans Degryse, PhD

Professor Hans Degryse, PhD
Current Position

since 12/18

Research Professor

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

since 01/12

Professor of Finance

KU Leuven

Research Interests
  • financial intermediation
  • empirical banking

Hans Degryse joined the Department of Financial Markets as a Research Professor in December 2018. His research focuses on financial intermediation, including empirical banking, the law and economics of banking, and market microstructure.

Hans Degryse holds the position of Professor of Finance at KU Leuven. Prior to that, he taught at CentER, the research institute of Tilburg University.

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Professor Hans Degryse, PhD
Professor Hans Degryse, PhD
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Publications

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SMEs and Access to Bank Credit: Evidence on the Regional Propagation of the Financial Crisis in the UK

Hans Degryse Kent Matthews Tianshu Zhao

in: Journal of Financial Stability, 2018

Abstract

We study the sensitivity of banks’ credit supply to small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the UK with respect to the banks’ financial condition before and during the financial crisis. Employing unique data on the geographical location of all bank branches in the UK, we connect firms’ access to bank credit to the financial condition (i.e., bank health and the use of core deposits) of all bank branches in the vicinity of the firm for the period 2004–2011. Before the crisis, banks’ local financial conditions did not influence credit availability irrespective of the functional distance (i.e., the distance between bank branch and bank headquarters). However, during the crisis, we find that SMEs with banks within their vicinity that have stronger financial conditions faced greater credit availability when the functional distance is close. Our results point to a “flight to headquarters” effect during the financial crisis.

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The Political Economy of Financial Systems: Evidence from Suffrage Reforms in the Last Two Centuries

Hans Degryse Thomas Lambert Armin Schwienbacher

in: Economic Journal, No. 611, 2018

Abstract

Voting rights were initially limited to wealthy elites providing political support for stock markets. The franchise expansion induces the median voter to provide political support for banking development, as this new electorate has lower financial holdings and benefits less from the riskiness and financial returns from stock markets. Our panel data evidence covering the years 1830–1999 shows that tighter restrictions on the voting franchise induce greater stock market development, whereas a broader voting franchise is more conducive to the banking sector, consistent with Perotti and von Thadden (2006). The results are robust to controlling for other institutional arrangements and endogeneity.

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When Arm’s Length is too Far: Relationship Banking over the Credit Cycle

Thorsten Beck Hans Degryse Ralph De Haas Neeltje van Horen

in: Journal of Financial Economics, No. 1, 2018

Abstract

We conduct face-to-face interviews with bank CEOs to classify 397 banks across 21 countries as either relationship or transaction lenders. We then use the geographic coordinates of these banks’ branches and of 14,100 businesses to analyze how the lending techniques of banks in the vicinity of firms are related to credit constraints at two contrasting points of the credit cycle. We find that while relationship lending is not associated with credit constraints during a credit boom, it alleviates such constraints during a downturn. This positive role of relationship lending is stronger for small and opaque firms and in regions with a more severe economic downturn. Moreover, our evidence suggests that relationship lending mitigates the impact of a downturn on firm growth and does not constitute evergreening of loans.

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