Banks’ lending behaviour under repressed financial regulatory environment: in the context of Myanmar

Abstract

In an ideal world, banking operations should ensure that there is a match between business strategy and loan assessment behaviour (Berger and Udell, 2004). However, in reality, banks are confined within a highly institutionalised environment which shapes their lending behaviour. Banks operate between two spectra in terms of regulatory environment, with policies based either on financial repression or liberalisation. Repressive policies are more common in the banking sector than capital markets. According to McKinnon (1973), financial repression is defined by various policies whereby the state influences credit allocation in channelling financial resources to priority areas identified by the government and micromanaging banks’ lending behaviour through interest-rate caps, collateral requirements and capital controls. Financial liberalisation, on the other hand, is regarded as an efficient means of fostering competition and inviting growth impulses from abroad (Bartolini and Drazen, 1997). After a series of decisions supporting financial liberalisation which took place from the 1970s to the 1990s, this type of policy has been intensively studied by scholars. However, there is still no consensus on whether it has positive or negative impacts.