Comment les firmes se financiarisent : Le rôle de la réglementation et des instruments de gestion. Le cas du crédit bancaire

Abstract

A study of the implementation, in a small mutual bank, of the Basel II Agreements makes it possible to document some processes in the financing of firms. These do not necessarily operate through the acquisition of capital in firms by institutional investors whose goal is to create value for shareholders. In the case studied here it was regulatory decisions taken by both the European Union and by the French banking supervisor that led the bank to totally transform its organization and working methods, and to adopt practices informed by prevailing financial theory. These changes then had an effect on its clientele of small- and medium-sized enterprises who thus became subject, via the new credit allocation procedures, to new financial discipline.