Using a unique sample of Italian manufacturing firms, we investigate the impact of relationship lending on firms’ use of trade credit. We find that firms maintaining close and long-lasting relationships with their main banks are associated with higher amounts of trade credit extended by suppliers. This result is robust to alternative measures of trade credit and relationship lending, and to different estimation techniques. We also analyze the mechanisms driving the association between relationship lending and the use of trade credit. Regression results suggest that the positive link between accounts payable and relationship lending is especially significant for firms that use to provide soft information to their lenders and for companies with greater relational abilities.

Plain English Summary The existence of close and long lasting lending relationships positively affects the amount of trade credit manufacturing firms receive from their suppliers. By relying on the Survey on Italian Manufacturing Firms, we show that the positive link between relationship lending and the use of trade credit is driven by two channels: private information and relational capital. In a policy perspective, our findings reveal a need for banking regulation and supervision to encompass banking business models in evaluating banks. The current approach might not be suitable for local banks investing in soft information acquisition and could weaken SMEs’ chances to receive both bank financing and trade credit from suppliers. Moreover, from a managerial point of view, our results uncover the relevance of firms’ ability to create strong relationships with banks, suppliers, and other companies that may help alleviating financial constraints.

使用意大利制造公司的独特样本，我们调查了关系贷款对公司使用贸易信贷的影响。我们发现，与其主要银行保持密切和长期关系的公司与供应商提供的贸易信贷额度较高有关。这一结果对于贸易信贷和关系贷款的替代措施以及不同的估计技术来说是稳健的。我们还分析了推动关系贷款与贸易信贷使用之间关联的机制。回归结果表明，应付账款和关系贷款之间的正相关关系对于习惯于向贷方提供软信息的公司和具有更高关系能力的公司尤为重要。

简单的英语摘要密切而持久的借贷关系的存在对制造企业从供应商那里获得的贸易信贷数量产生积极影响。通过对意大利制造企业的调查，我们表明关系贷款和贸易信贷使用之间的正相关是由两个渠道驱动的：私人信息和关系资本。从政策的角度来看，我们的研究结果表明，在评估银行时需要对银行监管和监督包括银行业务模式。目前的方法可能不适合本地银行投资软信息获取，并可能削弱中小企业从供应商处获得银行融资和贸易信贷的机会。此外，从管理的角度来看，我们的结果揭示了公司与银行建立牢固关系的能力的相关性，