Digital Transformation and Bank Credit Allocation:Based on the Perspective of Bank Lending to the Real Economy
In the context of building a digital China and establishing a new digital financial pattern that adapts to modern economic development,digital transformation can alleviate the information asymmetry between banks and enterprises,accurately identify corporate credit demand,and become an important path for structural reforms in the financial supply side.This study uses a cost optimization and information transmission perspective to analyze the theoretical implications of digital transformation within the framework of micro-banking economics.The empirical analysis is based on panel data from 217 commercial banks from 2010 to 2021,examining the impact and underlying mechanism of digital transformation on credit allocation.The study finds that digital transformation in banks can boost credit supply,shifting credit allocation from the financial sector to the real economy and thus facilitating a transition of credit allocation toward tangible sectors.This conclusion holds after various robustness tests.Digital transformation enhances banks'information identification capabilities by utilizing information technology and data elements,reducing information asymmetry between banks and enterprises,and lowering operating costs and labor expenses,thereby promoting credit allocation toward tangible sectors.A comparison of different paths and modes of digital transformation in banks reveals that it is characterized by a"top-down design,"with the"innovation-oriented"path having the most optimal credit allocation effect.Compared to the"cooperative"transformation,the"independent"transformation mode has a better effect on credit allocation.Additionally,an increase in physical branches and a decrease in labor costs contribute to digital transformation's ability to drive credit allocation toward tangible sectors,having more procyclicality during economic prosperity and credit expansion phases.Smaller banks with higher profitability and lower loan quality have a stronger marginal impact on driving credit allocation toward tangible sectors during the process of digital transformation.This study provides theoretical references for further optimizing the financial supply-demand structure and promoting commercial banks'transition from the virtual to the real economy.Based on existing studies,the contributions of this paper focus on three aspects.First,it practically answers the real problems of financing difficulties and costs in the real economy from the perspective of banks'micro-credit supply and enriches the micro perspective of research on digital development support for the real economy.Although studies have discussed the impact of digital finance and financial technology on the real economy,they only focused on the macro growth of the real economy and the demand level of enterprises and did not include the level of bank credit supply to study the financing of the real economy,which is also the crux of the poor quality of bank support for the real economy.This study analyzes the problem of digital transformation to support the development of the real economy based on the perspective of bank credit allocation from the virtual to the real economy and addresses the key issues of financial support for the real economy from the perspective of bank loan supply to provide new ideas for alleviating the financing difficulties of the real economy.Second,this study discusses in-depth the relationship between the digital transformation of banks and credit allocation from the perspective of information and information technology.Second,it launches an in-depth discussion on the relationship between banks'digital transformation and credit allocation,exploring the mechanism of digital transformation on credit allocation from the aspects of information asymmetry and operating costs.By comparing and analyzing the three digital transformation paths of banks'digital strategy,business,and management,we find that the digital transformation of banks'management has the most significant impact on credit allocation.We also compare and analyze the different effects of the two digital transformation modes in credit allocation according to autonomous development and cooperative development and determine the most effective digital transformation path and method for banks'credit allocation from the virtual to the real economy.This is of great practical significance and provides a reference for the strategic choices of banks in the process of actual digital development.Third,this study further analyzes the effect of bank digital transformation on the traditional credit allocation channels and finds that digital transformation is more conducive to credit allocation to the real industry when the number of physical outlets increases and the labor cost decreases.It also analyzes the heterogeneous impact of digital transformation based on the differences between different economic and credit cycles,as well as the driving factors of banks'credit allocation to provide a basis for the credit allocation of the bank to play the optimal role of digital transformation in different conditions,thus providing a basis for enhancing banks'ability to serve the real economy.
Digital TransformationCredit AllocationReal EconomyCredit Supply
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