This document provides an introduction to the determinants for the amount of banking relations in the private Colombian business sector. By taking into account similar studies from other countries, we made use of account data models and the calculation of a Poisson model regression, as well as a negative binomial regression model to discover the determinants of the variable of interest. We found that the data display overdispersion; therefore making the negative binomial regression model more adequate to the task than the Poisson model regression, in this context. In this overview, we show that the variables of liquidity, size of business firm, debt characteristics, lending rate, and GDP growth rate turn out to be important factors in determining the amount of banking relations. The fact that banking relations may be affected by economic activity may suggest that in times of economic downturn, companies seek out alternative financing sources.
