Rationality of the personal loan interest-rate markups of banks

Abstract

This study provides a model of banks' personal loan interest-rate markups by analyzing their expected profit maximization. Employing 804 personal loan cases from one Taiwanese bank, our empirical findings show that this model is able to identify the personal loan interest cut-off rates for each risk segment for bank profit maximization in order to determine personal loan interest-rate markups in a more accurate and rational manner. The interest-rate markups identified by this model can serve as a reference for banks' projections regarding optimal interest-rate markups for personal loans.