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1 – 10 of over 1000The purpose of the study is to examine the use of alternative information in bank lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Understanding alternative information and its use…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to examine the use of alternative information in bank lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Understanding alternative information and its use in bank lending to SMEs is important because it has become a growing part of the future of SME finance. The results and findings of my study not only enrich the finance literature but, more importantly, also address the use of Fintech in the risk management of SME lending, a new and complex problem that is specific to both the information technology and finance field.
Design/methodology/approach
To answer the research question, the author used a case study approach that relies upon qualitative data and analysis. By iterating between the existing literature, theoretical pieces and empirical findings, the author explain and interpret in detail how the use of alternative information impacts loan outcomes and develop insights to guide future research.
Findings
The case is outlined in two time periods including the prepartnership period and the postpartnership period. It highlights the establishment of a partnership between LoanBank and FintechInc (pseudonym), aimed at SME-focused Fintech lending. The findings underscore how the partnership has enabled a mutually beneficial situation where LoanBank and FintechInc leverage each other’s strengths to provide efficient and effective lending services. The adoption of alternative information in the risk management Fintech (RMF) platform of FintechInc has transformed LoanBank’s lending processes, showcasing how technological innovations can enhance SME lending practices.
Originality/value
The study’s originality mainly lies in the three detailed insights regarding alternative information’s impact on SME lending: information, platform properties and financial inclusion. The information part demonstrates that RMF platforms expand the information used for lending decisions, shifting from traditional hard and soft data to incorporating various alternative information sources. The platform properties part suggests that location, openness and technology also play a pivotal role in shaping lending outcomes. Finally, the financial inclusion part proposes that the use of alternative information has the potential to improve financial inclusion and offer better credit terms to previously underserved borrowers.
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Zuzana Bednarik and Maria I. Marshall
As many businesses faced economic disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic and sought financial relief, existing bank relationships became critical to getting a loan. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
As many businesses faced economic disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic and sought financial relief, existing bank relationships became critical to getting a loan. This study examines factors associated with the development of personal relationships of rural small businesses with community bank representatives.
Design/methodology/approach
We applied a mixed-method approach. We employed descriptive statistics, principal factor analysis and logistic regression for data analysis. We distributed an online survey to rural small businesses in five states in the United States. Key informant interviews with community bank representatives supplemented the survey results.
Findings
A business owner’s trust in a banker was positively associated with the establishment of a business–bank relationship. However, an analysis of individual trust’s components revealed that the nature of trust is complex, and a failure of one or more components may lead to decreased trustworthiness in a banker. Small businesses that preferred personal communication with a bank were more inclined to relationship banking.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the relatively small sample size and cross-sectional data, our results may not be conclusive but should be viewed as preliminary and as suggestions for future research. Bankers should be aware of the importance of trust for small business owners and of the actions that lead to increased trustworthiness.
Originality/value
The study extends the existing knowledge on the business–bank relationship by focusing mainly on social (instead of economic) factors associated with the establishment of the business–bank relationship in times of crisis and high uncertainty.
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Charilaos Mertzanis and Asma Houcine
This study employs firm-level data to evaluate how the knowledge economy impacts the financing constraints of businesses across 106 low- and middle-income nations, focusing on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study employs firm-level data to evaluate how the knowledge economy impacts the financing constraints of businesses across 106 low- and middle-income nations, focusing on the influence of technological transformation on corporate financing choices.
Design/methodology/approach
The research centers on privately held, unlisted firms and examines the distinct effects of knowledge at both the within-country and between-country levels using a panel dataset. Rigorous sensitivity and endogeneity analyses are conducted to ensure the reliability of the findings.
Findings
The findings indicate that greater levels of the knowledge economy correlate with reduced financing constraints for firms. However, this effect varies depending on the location within a country and across different geographical regions. Firms situated in larger urban centers and more innovative regions reap the most significant benefits from the knowledge economy when seeking external funding. Conversely, firms in smaller cities, rural areas and regions characterized by structural and institutional inefficiencies in knowledge generation experience fewer advantages.
Originality/value
The impact of knowledge exhibits variability not only within and among countries but also between poor and affluent developing nations, as well as between larger and smaller countries. The knowledge effect on firms' access to external finance is influenced by factors such as financial openness and development, educational quality, technological absorption capabilities and agglomeration conditions within each country.
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Runze Ling, Ailing Pan and Lei Xu
This study examines the impact of China’s mixed-ownership reform on the innovation of non-state-owned acquirers, with a particular focus on the impact on firms with high financing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the impact of China’s mixed-ownership reform on the innovation of non-state-owned acquirers, with a particular focus on the impact on firms with high financing constraints, low-quality accounting information or less tangible assets.
Design/methodology/approach
We use a proprietary dataset of firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges to investigate the impact of mixed ownership reform on non-state-owned enterprise (non-SOE) innovation. We employ regression analysis to examine the association between mixed ownership reform and firm innovation.
Findings
The study finds that non-state-owned firms can improve innovation by acquiring equity in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under the reform. Eased financing constraints, lowered financing costs, better access to tax incentives or government subsidies, lowered agency costs, better accounting information quality and more credit loans are underlying the impact. Additionally, cross-ownership connections amongst non-SOE executives and government intervention strengthen the impact, whilst regional marketisation weakens it.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literature on the association between mixed ownership reform and firm innovation by focussing on the conditions under which this impact is stronger. It also sheds light on the policy implications for SOE reforms in emerging economies.
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Kofi Kamasa, Solomon Luther Afful and Isaac Bentum-Ennin
This paper seeks to examine the effect of monetary policy rate (MPR) on the lending rates of commercial banks in Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the effect of monetary policy rate (MPR) on the lending rates of commercial banks in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model as well as the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model econometric techniques on a quarterly time series data from 2002 to 2018.
Findings
The ARDL results revealed that, MPR has a positive and significant effect on lending rate in the long and short run. Although there exists a direct relationship between MPR and lending rate, from the NARDL revealed an asymmetric effect of MPR on lending rate to the effect that, lending rate in Ghana responds more to positive shock (a rise in MPR) compared to a negative shock (a decrease in MPR) both in the long and short run.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to policy and literature in Ghana by providing empirical evidence on the asymmetric effect that MPR has on lending rates in Ghana. The paper recommends among others, the establishment of a rating system of banks according to their monetary policy compliance, where highly rated banks could have for instance a reduction on borrowed reserves from the central bank.
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Retselisitsoe I. Thamae and Nicholas M. Odhiambo
This paper aims to investigate the nonlinear effects of bank regulation stringency on bank lending in 23 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 1997–2017.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the nonlinear effects of bank regulation stringency on bank lending in 23 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 1997–2017.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs the dynamic panel threshold regression (PTR) model, which addresses endogeneity and heterogeneity problems within a nonlinear framework. It also uses indices of entry barriers, mixing of banking and commerce restrictions, activity restrictions and capital regulatory requirements from the updated databases of the World Bank's Bank Regulation and Supervision Surveys as measures of bank regulation.
Findings
The linearity test results support the existence of nonlinear effects in the relationship between bank lending and entry barriers or capital regulations in the selected SSA economies. The dynamic PTR estimation results reveal that bank lending responds positively when the stringency of entry barriers is below the threshold of 62.8%. However, once the stringency of entry barriers exceeds that threshold level, bank credit reacts negatively and significantly. By contrast, changes in capital regulation stringency do not affect bank lending, either below or above the obtained threshold value of 76.5%.
Practical implications
These results can help policymakers design bank regulatory measures that will promote the resilience and safety of the banking system but at the same time not bring unintended effects to bank lending.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the nonlinear effects of bank regulatory measures on bank lending using the dynamic PTR model and SSA context.
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Olapeju Comfort Ogunmokun, Oluwasoye Mafimisebi and Demola Obembe
The reason for concern is the rapid decline in loans to small enterprises which is critical to their performance, compared to large businesses following the periods of banking…
Abstract
Purpose
The reason for concern is the rapid decline in loans to small enterprises which is critical to their performance, compared to large businesses following the periods of banking reformations in Nigeria. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of risk perception on bank lending behaviour to small enterprises. It also investigates the impact of government intervention, consolidation and recapitalization on the relationship between risk perception and bank lending behaviour to small enterprise.
Design/methodology/approach
This study empirically analysed (ordinary least square) secondary data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletins, Annual Statement of Accounts covering the period 1992–2020.
Findings
The results show that the absence of government interventions and the presence of banking reformations have statistically negative significant effect on bank lending to small enterprises. The findings challenge the argument that generally assumes risk aversion of banks towards small enterprise lending because of small enterprise’s inability to prove their credit worthiness and consequently constraining access to finance to the sector. Instead, the results and analysis from this study found theoretical support for the variation of bank behaviour in lending to small enterprises depending on the status of wealth of the financial system.
Practical implications
A key lesson from this study for government concerned about promoting performance of the small enterprise sector is that regulating and enforcing lending requirements on access to debt financing of the sector is necessary if constraints in access debt finance is to be eliminated. Second, while strategies such as bank consolidation, recapitalization may help strengthen and make financially robust the banking system; it places the banks in a gain position where losses looms to them than gain.
Originality/value
This study challenges the argument that generally assumes risk aversion of banks towards small enterprise lending as a result of inability to prove their credit worthiness and consequently constraining access to finance to the sector. Instead, the results and analysis from this study reveal a variation in lending to small enterprises and suggests that the position of the bank in relation to a reference point influences how risk is perceived by the bank and thus impacts on their risk decision-making behaviour.
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This study aims to examine the triple relationship between capital regulation, banking lending and economic growth in a dual markets. Specifically, the author seeks to explore how…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the triple relationship between capital regulation, banking lending and economic growth in a dual markets. Specifically, the author seeks to explore how changes in capital regulation can impact banking lending practices and subsequently influence economic growth, while also investigating the reciprocal effects of banking lending on economic growth.
Design/methodology/approach
The author follows several previous studies such as Shrieves and Dahl (1992), Beck and Levine (2002), Altunbas et al. (2007), Saeed et al. (2020) and Stewart et al. (2021) to identify a system of three equations, regarding economic growth, capital and banking financing growth, respectively. The author estimates the parameters of all equations simultaneously using the seemingly unrelated regression method (Zellner, 1962) for a sample of 46 Islamic banks and 113 conventional banks during 2002–2022. These banks operate in 13 Muslim countries from Middle East and North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Findings
The author’s findings demonstrate that in the case of Islamic banking, an increase in loan growth stimulates economic growth, while an increasing capital ratio positively influences economic growth but is accompanied by a reduction in loan growth. This result corroborates the findings of Stewart et al. (2021), which indicate that regulatory capital reduces unstable credit while improving gross domestic product growth. However, in the case of conventional banks, the response to an increase in loan growth on Gross Domestic Product Per Capita Growth (GDPCG) is ambiguous, while the capital ratio improves GDPCG and promotes LOANG, which, in turn, increases risk.
Practical implications
The Islamic banks can continue to significantly contribute to economic growth by effectively directing their available capital toward viable investment opportunities and supporting sustainable financial practices, even in the presence of potential constraints on loan growth. As for conventional banks, they are invited to increase their capital levels to ensure a strong and resilient financial system that can support lending and facilitate economic growth.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to explore the triple relationship between capital requirements, Islamic bank lending and economic growth.
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This study aims to investigate the role of bank ownership (foreign versus domestic) and the type of service (Islamic versus conventional) on bank lending to large enterprises and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the role of bank ownership (foreign versus domestic) and the type of service (Islamic versus conventional) on bank lending to large enterprises and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on previous literature, the study proposes that foreign banks lend more to large enterprises and less to SMEs than domestic banks do. It also proposes that Islamic banks lend more to SMEs than conventional banks do. It utilizes unique hand-collected data of Jordanian banks from 2007 to 2018 to carry out its investigation. It applies regression estimation methods and propensity score matching to test its hypotheses.
Findings
Consistent with prior empirical evidence, the findings show that foreign banks lend significantly less (more) to SMEs (large enterprises) than their domestic counterparts. However, the findings indicate that Islamic banks lend significantly less to SMEs than their conventional counterparts. Further analysis shows that Islamic banks operating in Jordan are ultimately owned by foreign investors hence their incentives to adopt full features of Islamic financial instruments are confounded by their incentives to utilize transaction lending technologies which in turn attenuates the expected positive impact of Islamic banking services on SMEs finance.
Originality/value
This research provides novel evidence on the impact of Islamic banks on SMEs finance as the results suggest that the success of Islamic finance in bridging the gap of SMEs finance is conditional on embracing its full features.
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George Okello Candiya Bongomin, Charles Akol Malinga, Alain Manzi Amani and Rebecca Balinda
The main purpose of this paper is to establish whether trust plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between access to microcredit and survival of young women…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to establish whether trust plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between access to microcredit and survival of young women microenterprises in under-developed financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The main focus of this paper is to specifically test whether relational social capital built by young women from homogeneous and heterogeneous groups can be more effective in promoting economic exchange in under-developed financial markets since interpersonal trust has recently been found to harbor group collusion, especially among kins. Overall, the paper distinguishes trust among individuals based on their age, gender and ethnic diversity.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used structural equation model to test whether trust significantly mediates the relationship between access to microcredit and survival of young women microenterprises using Analysis of Moments Structures (AMOS) based on recommendations by Hair et al. (2022) and Baron and Kenny (1986).
Findings
The findings from this study revealed that trust significantly and positively mediate the relationship between access to microcredit and survival of young women microenterprises in under-developed financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa. Trust developed from relational social capital among young women from homogeneous and heterogeneous groups create a stronger basis for economic exchange in under-developed financial markets.
Research limitations/implications
While this study generates a positive evidence on the impact of access to microcredit on survival of young women microenterprises, the results cannot be over emphasized and generalized because the data were collected from only a single developing country. Future research may extend the current study to include other developing countries to make a more justified comprehensive analysis.
Practical implications
The findings from this study highlights the importance of using a blend of social policy guided by norms combined with formal regulations as an informal contract enforcement mechanism to achieve efficient economic exchange in under-developed financial markets. Relational social capital formed on the basis of informal norms among groups from diverse population can supplement formal laws to enforce contractual obligations in microcredit access, especially among youthful microentrepreneurs, who seems to have stronger relational behaviors than adults. Financial institutions such as banks should use informal contract enforcement system to increase the scope of financial inclusion of young microentrepreneurs, especially in unbanked rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda inclusive where formal laws are weak and sometimes not functional. The findings also show that younger people have a stronger relationship behavior than adults. Therefore, policy should create structures that can promote social activities among youth. Governments in sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda inclusive through their respective Ministry of Gender, Labour and Youth Affairs should create youth clubs that can increase interaction and relational social capital among the younger population to derive economic empowerment. sub-Saharan African governments, Uganda inclusive should rely more on social policy based on relational social capital as a missing link to promote and achieve economic development.
Originality/value
This paper provides an evidence on the unique role of age, gender and ethnicity in information sharing and exchange based on social policy in the financial market to limit group collusion. The authors indicate that diversity in relational social capital among young women microentrepreneurs prohibit strategic defaults, which promotes access to microcredit for survival of women micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through socialization. High level of interaction among younger women microentrepreneurs from homogeneous and heterogeneous groups allow them to close the information gap to timely meet borrowing contractual obligations to derive economic benefits. The paper shows that younger women have more trust than older women while searching for economic value through socialization. In fact, social policy can wholly supplement formal policy to promote growth and survival of young women microenterprises, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda inclusive.
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