Recent technological change in lending converts previously subjective assessments into structured, easily accessible data. We study this transformation in a credit market competition model that distinguishes between information span (breadth) and signal precision (quality). Borrower quality depends on multidimensional fundamentals, assessed through hard or soft signals. Two banks observe private hard signals, but only the specialized bank receives a soft signal. Expanding the span of hard information allows the non-specialized bank to evaluate characteristics previously only available to the specialist, and reducing its winner’s curse. By contrast, greater precision of hard signals strengthens the specialized bank’s informational advantage.
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