Credit Risk Assessment and Relationship Lending: An Empirical Analysis of German Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises*

We estimate a logit scoring model for the prediction of the probability of default by German small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) using a unique data set on SME loans in Germany. Our scoring model helps SMEs to gain knowledge about their default risk, which can be used to approximate their risk adequate cost of debt. This knowledge is likely to lead to a detection of hold‐up problems that German SMEs might be confronted with in their bank relationships. Furthermore, it allows them to monitor their bank’s pricing behavior and it reduces information asymmetries between lenders and borrowers. Finally, it can influence their future financing decisions toward capital market‐based financing.     

SMEs’ Financing and Banks’ Profitability: A “Good Date” for Banks in Ghana?

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the core of most economies and are a major source of economic growth. In recent times, banks have been actively involved in the financing of SMEs through the provision of loans to this sector. This paper investigates the impact of SMEs financing on banks’ profitability in Ghana. The study employed the fixed effect model as the main regression tool. The study result reveals that SMEs significantly contribute to banks’ profitability in Ghana. Interestingly, transaction cost in administering SME loans was insignificant in all the models. Higher inflation reduces the real value of the loan and erodes the interest returns on the total credit to the SMEs. Conversely, growth of GDP enhances the growth of the bank profit.     

The institutional environment and the number of bank relationships: an empirical analysis of European SMEs

This article examines the association between creditor protection, as measured by the nature of legal rules and the quality of law enforcement, and multiple bank relationships using a unique survey sample of SMEs from 19 European countries. We find that the likelihood of multiple banking is the highest for SMEs in French-civil-law countries, next highest for German-civil-law countries, and the lowest in Scandinavian-civil-law and English-common-law countries. We also find that SMEs in countries with low legal efficiency are more likely to establish multiple bank relationships. These results seems to confirm the underlying idea in the law and finance literature that relevant loan risk for banks also arises from low quality of laws and institutions and not just from firm-specific characteristics. Banks in countries where protection of creditor rights is poor may resort to multiple banking to share this additional risk. Policy makers can use our findings to justify the necessity of improving their institutions by reducing legal formalisms and thereby, lowering the enforcement costs in the courts. This would lead to better loan contracting and enhance the flow of debt capital, which is required for a healthy and dynamic economy.     

大银行信贷与中小企业融资的适配性问题研究

传统意义上,人们认为大银行信贷不适合中小企业融资,文章研究认为大银行是否适合中小企业,要考虑两个关键问题：首先是企业本身处于哪个阶段,由于风险和收益的影响,大银行不适合向初创期和衰退期的企业放贷,而处于成长期或成熟期且具有发展潜力的企业应该成为银行的主要服务对象;其次是银企之间的信息不对称,阻碍了大银行向中小企业贷款。在中小企业信用系统不健全,银行欠缺高效的贷款技术之前,大银行不适合直接面向中小企业贷款,而应该借助信息中介,例如民间金融、中小银行、电子商务平台等,才能提高银行的贷款效率,缓解中小企业融资难和融资贵的问题。     

Small shop survival – The financial response to a global financial crisis

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), many of which are small retail shops, remain the largest employer in the western world. Yet the financing of their fixed and working capital investments remains under-researched. This study focuses on this topic by examining Eurozone wholesale and retail SMEs enterprises at the peak of the 2008 financial credit crisis. In order to do this, an innovative analysis of existing theories in retail finance and policy research using generalised multilevel structural equation modelling is performed to establish how retail SMEs sourced capital during this period. This analysis, a first of its kind in wholesale and retail SME research, finds that pecking order theory, the independence of investment and financing, as well as the contest for financial resources between fixed and working capital do not hold for wholesale and retail SMEs. Moreover, it is found that government grants and subsidised loans were not used by SMEs in this sector of the Eurozone as primary sources of finance during the aftermath of the 2008 global credit crisis. Crucially, it is posited that a business environment characterized by stronger legal rights and deeper credit information did not improve SMEs’ access to external finance. The authors recommend that further research should be pursued in this field in order to improve current understanding of the resilience of retail SMEs for future global financial crises.     

中小企业融资:现状、争议与共识

世界许多国家融资模式的横比表明,内部融资是企业资金的最重要的来源,融资的瓶颈在于外部融资;而外部融资中最重要的是以银行贷款为主的间接融资。这种特点在中小企业融资中更为突出。各种中小企业融资理论从多种方面分析了融资收益和风险的匹配关系对中小企业资金供求的影响,并给出了争议与共识并存的政策建议。     

我国中小企业融资与保险支持研究

近年来,随着我国中小企业的进一步发展,其自身积累已无法满足对资金的需求,必须通过各种渠道进行融资。目前,商业银行仍是中小企业信贷的主力军,虽然大部分商业银行成立了专门为中小企业融资的贷款机构,但在贷款条件方面依然不比大型企业宽松,融资难问题仍制约着中小企业的发展。针对这一问题,保险介入成为中小企业融资的需要以及商业银行降低风险的需要。应积极推进保险业相关法制建设,加大政府支持力度,科学组建承保机构,加强产品研发,强化风险控制,促进保险支持中小企业融资。     

我国中小企业融资现状及对策分析

目前,我国中小企业的融资存在融资成本高、信用体系不健全、融资渠道不规范、在资本市场受到融资歧视等问题。为促进中小企业的良性经营与稳定发展,我国通过增强中小企业内源融资能力、规范民间借贷、完善银企征信体系、利率市场化等方式解决这些问题。此外,政府还应该对目前市场进行补充和修正,如向金融机构提供贷款风险补偿资金,成立服务于中小企业的政策性银行等措施,以达到全面解决中小企业融资困难的目的。     

中小企业融资与银行关系研究综述

银行贷款是中小企业间接融资的最主要渠道,银企之间良好关系的建立,可以有效缓解中小企业的融资困境。本文从影响银企关系的因素、银行结构对中小企业融资的影响、如何建立银行与中小企业的关系几方面对已有的一些国内外文献进行了综述,并指出今后应加大对开放条件下银企关系的研究。     

钢贸企业不良贷款对商业银行发展中小企业信贷业务的启示

在发展中小企业信贷业务方面,钢贸企业不良贷款的产生可资借鉴。钢贸企业不良贷款在宏观经济背景下逐渐生成,在运作模式变动中慢慢酝酿,并在银行监管不力及自身经营弊端的推动下最终爆发。以此为前车之鉴,小企业信贷的发放应强化宏观经济考察,建立科学的考核问责制度,健全中小企业早期风险预警体系,通过合理举措,消除不良信贷风险。     

中小企业融资难问题研究

改革开放以来中小企业在我国国民经济中的地位和贡献度不断提升,已经成为推动国民经济发展、保持社会稳定的基础力量。然而由于中小企业存在着权属不清晰、评估价值不合理、缺乏信用观念、会计报袁信息披露不够和财务数据失真等问题,造成银行贷前调查的困难和不实等,使融资难问题始终困扰着中小企业。虽然政府和各金融机构针对中小企业融资难采取了一些措施,但现实中,中小企业仍面临大量融资缺口。政府应尽快放开民间资本,建立真正的专门面向中小企业融资的民营银行,大力发展民营小额贷款公司,发展和规范个人放贷业务,发展名副其实的民间互助合作金融组织,为中小企业开辟更多的直接融资渠道等,使中小企业融资难问题得到根本解决。     

Trust and SME attitudes towards equity financing across Europe

The decision by a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) to take on equity requires trust, due to reliance on the good intentions of the parties involved. Drawing on a social capital perspective, we argue that national interpersonal and institutional trust positively influences SME attitudes towards equity financing. We also hypothesize a substitution effect between interpersonal and institutional trust. Through a large survey of European SMEs in 26 countries, we confirm the presence of these direct and interaction effects. By making explicit the link between trust and attitudes to equity financing we extend the theory on institutional drivers of SME financing.     

信贷资金融资服务效率与融资服务功能--基于中小企业的问卷调查

以6地区339家企业的问卷调查数据为基础对政策性银行贷款、商业性银行贷款、民间信贷三种资金为中小企业融资服务的效率进行实证考察,结果显示：三种资金对中小企业发展起正向促进作用,政策性资金和民间信贷资金融资服务效率高于商业性银行资金;三种资金投向具有规模企业偏好,与扶持小微企业发展的实践相矛盾;三种信贷资金行业服务效率差异明显,政策性资金对高新技术类企业融资服务效率高;民间信贷资金融资服务对象定位不明确,影响了其为中小企业服务的综合效率,亟需政策的规范和引导;在中小企业融资服务体系中三种资金具有联动效应。这些结论为合理界定三种信贷资金在中小企业融资服务体系中的服务功能和服务区间提供了依据。     

How firms finance innovation. Further empirics from European SMEs

This paper aims to evaluate the role played by different sources of financing when analyzing firms' attitudes towards innovating. The empirical investigation is based on a large sample of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) observed over the period 2012–2017. Different measures of finance and several robustness checks are used to select a well-behaved probit model. The results show that the probability to innovate increases when firms use internal financing and grants. The same applies when funds come from family and friends, while no conclusive evidence is found for bank loans. Recommendations for public policy to encourage firm-tailored policies to promote investment in intangibles allow firms to benefit from innovation activities. European SMEs will also benefit from capital market developments and the advancement of new financial tools devoted to supporting innovation.     

Relationship lending and SME financing in the continental European bank-based system

This paper analyzes the relationship between banks and SMEs in the continental European bank-based system. We find that SMEs with longer bank relationships have enhanced access to loans, but at the same time they bear a higher cost for their debt. We also find that firms maintaining two bank relationships get the cheapest debt, which establishes a limit for the degree of concentration of bank relationships. Our results also show that the existence of trust between firm and bank improves access to financing and reduces the borrowing costs, whereas it increases the likelihood that guarantees will have to be provided. As a consequence, it seems that a relationship based on trust is a better strategy to improve SMEs’ access to finance than the establishment of longer or more concentrated relationships.     

The White Paper on Growth,Competitiveness and Employment and Greek Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

This paper makes an assessment of the homo-genous approach and policy measures towards SMEs, adopted by the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment and by national policies in Greece. It is demonstrated that there is a key distinction between the structure of competitive, high-tech, highly-specialized SMEs in advanced countries, whose size is determined by the size of the international niche market where they compete, on the one hand and on the other, SMEs in Greece or in other less developed member-states, whose (micro) size is determined by the local markets they serve, while in most cases they do not have the marketing skills/approach to address export markets. Copying successful instruments for SMEs in advanced countries can thus be most dangerous for the less developed countries, since the industrial organization of the typical SME is very different from those SMEs in Northern Europe. Therefore, the effects of policy measures, without further modifications, will be different from those envisioned by the EU policy-makers. Increasing the utilization of assistance by SMEs in less developed member-states is likely to be more effective if the assistance focuses on incentives and services, which support cooperative action in local and foreign markets, rather than on direct SME financing.     

刍议商业银行加强中小企业信贷风险管理问题

当前,我国中小企业普遍面临着融资困难的状况,给中小企业发展带来了巨大的阻力。原因主要是由于中小企业自身实力较弱,经营管理制度不成熟,商业银行对中小企业信贷存在较高的风险等。商业银行在对中小企业信贷风险管理方面应该遵循全面性、系统性、谨慎性的原则,建立有用的、适合地区实际情况的信用风险管理体系,制定风险管理制度、程序和措施,提高银行贷款的质量,及时识别可能存在的风险,对风险进行监测并及时控制,从而确保信贷风险在合理的范围内,尽量减少不良贷款,确保银行资产的合理流动的目标。     

中小企业融资机制的缺陷与创新探析

实践证明中小企业已经成为经济发展的重要因素，但是当前的融资机制还不完善，存在着诸如资金供给者和需求者之间信息不对称进而导致出现逆向选择和道德风险、直接融资体制不够完善、中小企业的高风险性与商业性金融机构三性原则之间的矛盾、企业融资缺乏信用等一系列问题，直接影响了中小企业的发展。这决定了解决中小企业融资难的问题只能从融资机制的创新中寻找答案。     

我国外贸中小企业国际保理中的困境及法律对策

国际保理是国际贸易中一种新兴的结算方式,可有效解决出口贸易融资难题,有效降低货款回收风险,对促进我国外贸中小企业发展具有重要意义。但是,由于法律制度的供给和运行环境存在很多问题,挫伤了我国中小企业开展保理业务的积极性。为破解困境,既需要中小企业自身的努力,也需要从法律上积极应对,需要完善相关法律制度,建立信用管理法律体系,加强对国际保理业务的法律认识,规范保理收费,建立商业银行分担风险制度。     

Perceived credit constraints in the European Union

The promotion and support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is an essential component of policies designed to help improve Europe’s economic performance. A crucial issue is whether SMEs face difficulty obtaining bank loans. Using pre-crisis survey data from 2005 and 2006 for nearly 3,500 SMEs (firms with fewer than 250 employees) in the European Union (EU), we investigate the determinants of perceived bank loan accessibility at the firm level and at the country level. Based on hierarchical (multi-level) binomial logit regressions, our findings show that the youngest and smallest SMEs have the worst perception of access to bank loans. The SMEs in nations with concentrated banking sectors are more positive about loan accessibility. In addition, a high fraction of foreign-owned banks is associated with improved perception of loan accessibility in the EU 15 but not in the EU 10.