MASARYK UNIVERSITY Impacts of the Zero Interest Rate Environment
MASARYK UNIVERSITY Faculty of Economics and Administration Field of Study: Finance Impacts of the Zero Interest Rate Environment: Exploring Growth Drivers of Direct Lending in Germany Dissertation Supervisor: Author: Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Eric Frère Ilja Schaab, M.Sc. Brno, 2020 Abstract The Eurozone’s historically low interest rates affect banks, corporations, and investors in different ways. This dissertation presents an explorative analysis of the behavior of these three groups in the given zero interest rate environment in order to explain the direct lending industry’s considerable growth in Germany. The bank-related results demonstrate that lower intermediation costs within a zero interest rate environment lead to stronger profit growth in the following period. The corporation-related results indicate that key interest rates significantly positively affect companies’ investment behavior, significantly negatively affect their average return on assets, significantly negatively affect their cash holdings, and exert no unambiguous effect on their credit demand. The investor-related results reveal that investors significantly change their behavior in a zero interest rate environment and demonstrably resort to riskier investments, confirming the debate about reaching for yield. Overall, these results indicate an advantageous environment for the growth of the direct lending industry, which was already able to achieve a significant market share in relation to the total corporate lending market and the total investment market in Germany. Keywords: Corporate Direct Lending Industry in Germany Corporate Finance and Investment Strategies Financial Intermediation Zero Interest Rate Environment Zero Yield Bias JEL Codes: E52, G11, G20, G30, G40 I Declaration of Authenticity I hereby declare that the dissertation Impacts of the Zero Interest Rate Environment: Exploring Growth Drivers of Direct Lending in Germany is my own work carried out under the supervision of Prof.
[Show full text]