Do Ex-Bankers Benefit Non-Financial Firms? Evidence from Job Transitions
Review of Corporate Finance Studies
77 Pages Posted: 17 Sep 2019 Last revised: 14 Jan 2022
Date Written: Jan 03, 2022
Abstract
We document the beneficial impact of human capital transfer from banks to non-financial firms: firms hiring ex-bankers have higher asset and employment growth and easier access to bank loans. Using a unique, employee-employer-matched dataset from Russia and exogenous variation in ex-bankers’ supply due to bank-branch-network restructurings, we establish the causal interpretation of these patterns. We also show that ex-bankers’ human capital consists of bank-specific and banking industry expertise (with the latter being acquired through interbank connections). Firms recognize the value of ex-bankers, as ex-bankers’ receive significant salary bonuses when a new bank loan is issued to the firm.
Keywords: bank-firm lending relations, human capital transfer
JEL Classification: G21, G32, J24
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation