Monetary Policy Tightening, and Banking Concentration: Structural Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Abstract

This paper analyses the short-run dynamic relationship between monetary policy and banking market structure in Colombia during a period of post-pandemic inflation and aggressive policy tightening. Using monthly credit portfolio data for 2017–2024, we compute several concentration indicators (the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), CRk ratios, and a dominance index) and employ three complementary identification strategies to evaluate the causal effect of monetary policy innovations on banking concentration. First, a structural VAR model identified through sign restrictions finds that contractionary shocks are associated with a short-run increase in banking concentration (median peak response: +0.60 HHI points at h = 3; 90% credible set: [+0.12, +1.16]), contrasting with the negative short-run response obtained under recursive reduced-form identification. Second, an extended VAR including credit portfolio growth as a mechanism variable confirms that contractionary shocks compress aggregate lending but do not generate robust, persistent changes in concentration. Third, local projections with regime-interaction terms formally test the nonlinear mechanisms discussed in the literature and find evidence of state-dependent transmission: the concentration response is larger in the low-inflation regime and attenuates during high-inflation episodes. All estimated effects are transitory and horizon-sensitive, reinforcing a cautious interpretation. The paper contributes new evidence from an emerging economy on the structural consequences of monetary policy and highlights the importance of identification assumptions in determining the direction of this effect.