Research9 suggests that this distortion leads to a loss of 4–5% of French GDP. Other size-contingent regulations exist in other countries such as Portugal or Italy, where the threshold is 15 employees. What these regulations all have in common is that they deter firms from expanding. Therefore, they are a drag on growth.
Such risk-based pricing is consistent with expanding access to credit. Indeed, many of those receiving higher-rate loans would in the past have been denied credit at lower rates. However, some banks are concerned about the risk to their reputation that might be precipitated by the new HMDA data on rates charged for the higher-rate segment of the market.