IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cbi/wpaper/10-rt-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

SME access to finance in Europe: structural change and the legacy of the crisis

Author

Listed:
  • McQuinn, John

    (Central Bank of Ireland)

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) access to credit deteriorated during the financial crisis and credit constraints remain high for some euro area countries. This paper investigates the factors linked to the variation in SME credit access across euro area countries. After controlling for the fundamental performance and characteristics of firms and bank funding costs, I investigate the financial and macroeconomic channels that explain variation in credit constraints across countries and time. The paper combines approaches taken in the literature, extends the analysis to the post-crisis period, distinguishes between alternative measures of credit constraints and incorporates the role of soft information. The most economically important channels associated with SME access to finance are found to be the soft information channel and firm indebtedness. Bank competition and the condition of bank balance sheets are also found to have economically important relationships with SME access to finance.

Suggested Citation

  • McQuinn, John, 2019. "SME access to finance in Europe: structural change and the legacy of the crisis," Research Technical Papers 10/RT/19, Central Bank of Ireland.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbi:wpaper:10/rt/19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/publications/research-technical-papers/sme-acces-to-finance-in-europe.pdf?sfvrsn=14
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    2. Ferrando, Annalisa & Popov, Alexander & Udell, Gregory F., 2017. "Sovereign stress and SMEs’ access to finance: Evidence from the ECB's SAFE survey," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 65-80.
    3. Han, Liang & Fraser, Stuart & Storey, David J., 2009. "Are good or bad borrowers discouraged from applying for loans? Evidence from US small business credit markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 415-424, February.
    4. Ryan, Robert M. & O’Toole, Conor M. & McCann, Fergal, 2014. "Does bank market power affect SME financing constraints?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 495-505.
    5. Lawless, Martina & O’Connell, Brian & O’Toole, Conor, 2015. "SME recovery following a financial crisis: Does debt overhang matter?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 45-59.
    6. Hans Degryse & Nancy Masschelein & Janet Mitchell, 2004. "SMEs and Bank Lending Relationships: the Impact of Mergers," Working Paper Research 46, National Bank of Belgium.
    7. Ferrando, Annalisa & Mulier, Klaas, 2015. "The real effects of credit constraints: evidence from discouraged borrowers in the euro area," Working Paper Series 1842, European Central Bank.
    8. Sarah Holton & Martina Lawless & Fergal McCann, 2013. "SME Financing Conditions in Europe: Credit Crunch or Fundamentals?," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 225(1), pages 52-67, August.
    9. Santiago Carbó-Valverde & Francisco Rodríguez-Fernández & Gregory F. Udell, 2009. "Bank Market Power and SME Financing Constraints," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 13(2), pages 309-340.
    10. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1995. "Relationship Lending and Lines of Credit in Small Firm Finance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 351-381, July.
    11. Jiménez, Gabriel & Ongena, Steven & Peydró, José-Luis & Saurina, Jesús, 2017. "Do Demand or Supply Factors Drive Bank Credit, in Good and Crisis Times?," EconStor Preprints 216802, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Beck, Thorsten & Degryse, Hans & De Haas, Ralph & van Horen, Neeltje, 2018. "When arm's length is too far: Relationship banking over the credit cycle," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(1), pages 174-196.
    13. Horst Rottmann & Timo Wollmershäuser, 2013. "A micro data approach to the identification of credit crunches," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(17), pages 2423-2441, June.
    14. Roberto Blanco & Noelia Jiménez, 2018. "Credit allocation along the business cycle: evidence from the latest boom bust credit cycle in Spain," Working Papers 1826, Banco de España.
    15. Jiménez, Gabriel & Ongena, Steven & Peydró, José-Luis & Saurina, Jesús, 2012. "Credit Supply and Monetary Policy: Identifying the Bank Balance-Sheet Channel with Loan Applications," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 102(5), pages 2301-2326.
    16. Kon, Y & Storey, D J, 2003. "A Theory of Discouraged Borrowers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 37-49, August.
    17. Atif Mian, 2006. "Distance Constraints: The Limits of Foreign Lending in Poor Economies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 1465-1505, June.
    18. José María Liberti & Mitchell A. Petersen, 2018. "Information: Hard and Soft," NBER Working Papers 25075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marie Finnegan & Supriya Kapoor, 2023. "ECB unconventional monetary policy and SME access to finance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 1253-1288, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kallandranis, Christos & Anastasiou, Dimitrios & Drakos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Credit rationing prevalence for Eurozone firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Demoussis, Michael & Drakos, Konstantinos & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas, 2016. "The Impact of Sovereign Ratings on Eurozone SMEs Credit Rationing," MPRA Paper 76364, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Michael Demoussis & Konstantinos Drakos & Nicholas Giannakopoulos, 2017. "The impact of sovereign ratings on euro zone SMEs’ credit rationing," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(5), pages 745-764, October.
    4. Raffaella Calabrese & Claudia Girardone & Alex Sclip, 2021. "Financial fragmentation and SMEs’ access to finance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 2041-2065, December.
    5. Reto Wernli & Andreas Dietrich, 2022. "Only the brave: improving self-rationing efficiency among discouraged Swiss SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 977-1003, October.
    6. C. Cahn & A. Duquerroy & W. Mullins, 2017. "Unconventional Monetary Policy and Bank Lending Relationships," Working papers 659, Banque de France.
    7. Fergal McCann & James Carroll, 2019. "Observables and Residuals: Exploring Cross-Border Differences in SME Borrowing Costs," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 167-184, October.
    8. Meslier, Céline & Sauviat, Alain & Yuan, Dian, 2020. "Comparative advantages of regional versus national banks in alleviating SME's financial constraints," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. David Aristei & Gabriele Angori, 2022. "Heterogeneity and state dependence in firms’ access to bank credit," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 47-78, June.
    10. Song Zhang & Liang Han & Konstantinos Kallias & Antonios Kallias, 2021. "The value of in-person banking: evidence from U.S. small businesses," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1393-1435, November.
    11. repec:zbw:bofitp:2016_006 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Théo Nicolas., 2023. "Bank Market Power and Interest Rate Setting: Why Consolidated Banking Data Matte [Pouvoir de marché des banques et fixation des taux d’intérêt : de l’importance de prendre en compte les données ban," Débats économiques et financiers 40, Banque de France.
    13. Gabriele Angori & David Aristei, 2020. "Heterogeneity and state dependence in firms’ access to credit: Microevidence from the euro area," SEEDS Working Papers 0220, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Feb 2020.
    14. Choudhary, M. Ali & Jain, Anil, 2022. "Finance and inequality: The distributional impacts of bank credit rationing," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    15. Shusen Qi & Ralph De Haas & Steven Ongena & Stefan Straetmans & Tamas Vadasz, 2017. "Move a Little Closer? Information Sharing and the Spatial Clustering of Bank Branches," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 17-74, Swiss Finance Institute, revised Jun 2023.
    16. Chala, Alemu Tulu & Forssbaeck, Jens, 2018. "Does Collateral Reduce Loan-Size Credit Rationing? Survey Evidence," Working Papers 2018:36, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    17. Fungáčová, Zuzana & Shamshur, Anastasiya & Weill, Laurent, 2017. "Does bank competition reduce cost of credit? Cross-country evidence from Europe," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 104-120.
    18. Beck, Thorsten & Ongena, Steven & Şendeniz-Yüncü, İlkay, 2019. "Keep walking? Geographical proximity, religion, and relationship banking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 49-68.
    19. Lee, Neil & Brown, Ross, 2016. "Innovation, SMEs and the liability of distance: the demand and supply of bank funding in peripheral UK regions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66215, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. de Haas, Ralph & Lu, Liping & Ongena, S.R.G., 2018. "Clear and Close Competitors? : On the Causes and Consequences of Bilateral Competition between Banks," Other publications TiSEM e9f86045-13c5-49d9-85df-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    21. Ferrando, Annalisa & Mulier, Klaas, 2022. "The real effects of credit constraints: Evidence from discouraged borrowers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    access to finance; SMEs; financial crises; soft information; firm indebtedness; bank competition; bank balance sheets; capital markets union.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • E66 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General Outlook and Conditions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cbi:wpaper:10/rt/19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fiona Farrelly (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cbigvie.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.