Public trust and bank branching regulation on personal loan grants and default risk: Evidence from regional commercial banks in China

We examine the effect of public trust on personal loan grants and the default risk of Chinese regional commercial banks during the bank branch regulation regime changes. Using exogenous shocks of bank branch regulation regimes in quasi-natural experiments, we find that public trust exhibits a more pronounced increase in personal loan grants for regional banks. Additionally, we report a negative relationship between public trust and default risk. Finally, we observe that city commercial banks that open branches in high public trust provinces during the deregulation period lead to an increase (decrease) in personal loan grants and (default risk).