The Impact of Interest Rate Liberalization on the Risk-Taking Behavior of Commercial Banks—Based on the Perspective of Financial Product Innovation

本文以2013~2022年我国148家商业银行为研究对象，运用双向固定效应模型，考察了2013年央行全面放开贷款利率管制后利率市场化对商业银行风险承担的影响，以及金融产品创新在利率市场化对商业银行风险承担影响关系中的调节作用。研究发现，利率市场化对商业银行风险承担水平存在负向影响，随着利率市场化水平的提高，商业银行的风险承担水平会逐渐降低，而金融产品创新能够增强利率市场化对商业银行风险承担的负向影响。异质性分析发现，利率市场化对不同类别商业银行风险承担水平的负向影响存在一定差异，国有银行和股份制银行在利率市场化过程中适应性更强，也更能够在市场化后的竞争中占据优势地位，使得二者的风险承担水平随利率市场化水平提高所降低的幅度大于区域性银行。本文通过分析在利率市场化逐渐完善的过程中其对商业银行风险承担造成的影响，为不同银行在利率市场化深化过程中的风险管理及竞争策略提供了参考，同时也丰富了有关利率市场化及银行风险承担的研究。Taking 148 commercial banks in China from 2013 to 2022 as the research objects, this paper examines the impact of interest rate liberalization on commercial banks’ risk-taking after the central bank fully liberalized the control of lending interest rates in 2013, as well as the moderating role of financial product innovation in the relationship between the impact of interest rate liberalization on commercial banks’ risk-taking by applying the two-way fixed-effects model. It is found that interest rate liberalization has a negative impact on the level of commercial bank risk-taking, and as the level of interest rate liberalization increases, the level of commercial bank risk-taking will gradually decrease, while financial product innovation can enhance the negative impact of interest rate liberalization on commercial bank risk-taking. Heterogeneity analysis found that the negative impact of interest rate liberalization on the level of risk-taking of different categories of commercial banks has certain differences; state-owned banks and joint-stock banks in the process of interest rate liberalization to adapt to the stronger, but also more able to occupy an advantageous position in the post-market competition, so that the level of risk-taking of the two with the increase in the level of interest rate liberalization to reduce the magnitude of greater than that of the regional banks. This paper analyzes the impact of interest rate liberalization on commercial banks’ risk-taking in the process of interest rate liberalization, provides a reference for different banks’ risk management and competition strategies in the process of interest rate liberalization deepening, and also enriches the research on interest rate liberalization and banks’ risk-taking.