Banks’ Risk Culture in Residential Mortgage and Cross-Selling Policies: Evidence from the Euro Area

A specific case study on cultural differences among bank business models is provided by Umberto Filotto, Claudio Giannotti, Gianluca Mattarocci, and Xenia Scimone in Chap. 12 “Risk culture in different bank business models: the case of real estate financing”. The research focuses on the relevance of cross selling to lenders exposed to the residential mortgage market. The analysis of the lending industry during the financial crisis scenario is a useful stress test for evaluating the business model reaction driven by corporate culture. The authors compare trends in cross selling and real estate loans for a representative set of European banks and show that some banking features, including size and real estate loan specialization, may affect the link between residential real estate loans and cross selling.