Abstract:
Using a representative sample of businesses in the euro area, we show that Eurosystem purchases of corporate bonds under the Corporate Sector Purchase programme (CSPP) increased the net issuance of debt securities, triggering a shift in bank loan supply in favour of firms that do not have access to bond-based financing. Identification comes from matching bank-dependent firms to their lenders and accounting for the effect of CSPP on banks' activity in the syndicated loan market. In a difference-in-differences setting, we show that credit access improved relatively more for firms borrowing from banks relatively more exposed to CSPP-eligible firms. Unlike in previous studies, this result applies regardless of bank balance sheet quality as measured by Tier 1 and NPL ratios.