Washington, D.C. – A paper on regulatory risk perception earned the John W. Ryan Award for Most Significant Contribution to Community Banking Research at the 2023 Community Banking Research Conference.

The conference’s planning committee chose the paper titled “Regulatory Risk Perception and Small Business Lending,” authored by Siddharth Vij with the University of Georgia-Terry College of Business and Joseph Kalmenovitz with the University of Rochester-Simon Business School, as the top paper.

Using Small Business Administration (SBA) data, the authors examined how the perception of risk by regulators affects the ability of small businesses to obtain access to credit. They found SBA loans and job creation are reduced at the new location when SBA employees transfer from offices with more current defaults on SBA loans. The authors concluded that misperception of economic conditions by regulators has a measurable effect on access to credit.

“This research importantly shows us how the misperception of risk by regulators can negatively impact the ability of small businesses to access credit,” said Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) President and CEO Jim Cooper. “This is something that we need to reconcile if we want to promote economic growth.”

The Community Banking Research Conference, co-sponsored by the CSBS, the Federal Reserve System and the FDIC, is held annually in St. Louis.

The Community Banking Research Conference planning committee named the Most Significant Contribution to Community Banking Research Award in John W. Ryan’s memory last year. A champion of the dual banking system, Ryan served as president and CEO of CSBS from 2011 until his unexpected death in May 2022. He helped initiate the Community Banking Research Conference to encourage more data and research on community banks for better informed policy decisions.

Contact: Susanna Barnett, 202-407-7156, [email protected]    

Twitter: @CSBSNews 

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) is the national organization of bank regulators from all 50 states, American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. State regulators supervise roughly three-quarters of all U.S. banks and a variety of non-depository financial services. CSBS, on behalf of state regulators, also operates the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System to license and register non-depository financial service providers in the mortgage, money services businesses, consumer finance and debt industries.