Financial Intermediation and Deregulation

The book attempts to give a comprehensive description and testable theory of the complicated, but not unintelligible system of bank-firm relationships in the dynamic environment of a gradually deregulated financial market. It provides both theory and empirical evidence that close bank-firm relationships lead to a lower fraction of bank finance. Furthermore it is shown that since the mid 1980s it has been increasingly dependent on the nature of a relationship whether or not it is a benefit for the competitiveness of a firm. These findings make it necessary to redefine the image of Japan's financial system in general and bank-firm relationships in particular.