This book explores how the global financial and European sovereign debt crises have forced small-and-medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to reassess and adapt their funding strategies. At the heart of the matter is the worsening access to bank credit for such enterprises. Through this discussion we learn how crucial an understanding of SME-financing is to policy makers, in light of the fact that SMEs dominate the business landscape in Europe and are the main drivers of employment, growth and innovation in the European economy. Contributing chapters present expert analysis and investigate many topics including the problems faced by SMEs in accessing bank credit and the cost of funding and its determinants. Particular attention is also given to how credit-constrained enterprises may reformulate their funding strategies by employing alternative, non-bank, financial resources, and how regulators could support SMEs in broadening and improving their funding opportunities.

"This book, titled SME Finance: Constraints and an Information Asymmetric Perspective, studies the gap between bank financing and the small and medium sized enterprises (SME) sector, based on the economic theories of information asymmetry and agency theory. Access to finance continues to remain one of the key constraints faced by SMEs to start and expand businesses, particularly in the developing economies where access to bank loans is subject to the availability of collateral. The SME financing gap, studied from the perspectives of both the key actors - banks and SMEs - is well presented in this book. The authors have used Sequential Explanatory Design, a mixed methodology, to collect data from SMEs and banks. The econometric model of the study represented SMEs' debt accessibility as a function of independent variables of loan repayment capacity, financial information, characteristics of the firm and owner and bank loan characteristics. The book provides empirical evidence that SME financing constraints are caused by factors arising from SMEs as well as the banks, primarily SMEs' high information opacity and banks' imposition of collateral to offset the credit risk. In the estimation of the econometric model, the size of collateral and owner's equity were among the most significant predictor variables. Likewise, the thematic analysis of interview data of credit officers to understand the banks' lending behavior evidenced a strong positive relationship between the size of the collateral and owner's equity and access to bank loans. SMEs' high information opacity and credit risk induced adverse selection and credit rationing on the part of finance providers. The findings of this book contribute towards academic literature on developing economies characterized by limited data available for academic and empirical research. This book provides a unique example of rigorous research on SME finance within an information economics framework. The theoretical issues are nicely balanced by the practical application of information economics to an emerging market. It can be used as a reference by researchers, academics, practitioners and policy makers in the areas of development finance, banking, development economics, microfinance and rural development. In addition, it can be used as an academic reference for a finance subject at the Master's or Doctoral level. The book is relevant to key stakeholders in understanding the debt inaccessibility from SMEs and the banks in drafting policies and measures to address the SME financing gap"--

The 9th edition of the Scoreboard on Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs report provides data from 48 countries around the world on SME lending, alternative finance instruments and financing conditions, as well as information on policy initiatives to improve SME access to finance.

The "Model Law" deals with security interests in all types of tangible and intangible movable property, such as goods, receivables, bank accounts, negotiable instruments, negotiable documents,

This book's prime audience is government policy-makers. It provides a policy framework for governments to increase micro, small and medium enterprises' access to financial services?one which is based on empirical evidence from around the world. Financial sector policies in many developing countries often work against the ability of commercial financial institutions to serve this market segment, albeit, often unintentionally. The framework guides governments on how to best focus scarce resources on three things: ? developing an inclusive financial sector policy; ? building healthy financial ins

Countries in the MENAP and CCA regions have the lowest levels of financial inclusion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the world. The paper provides empirical evidence on the drivers of SME access to finance for a large sample of countries, and identifies key policy priorities for these two regions: economic and institutional stability, competition, public sector size and government effectiveness, credit information infrastructure (e.g., credit registries), the business environment (e.g., legal frameworks for contract enforcement), and financial supervisory and regulatory capacity. The analysis also shows that improving credit information, economic competition, the business environment along with economic development and better governance would help close the SME financial inclusion gap between MENAP and CCA regions and the best performers. The paper concludes on the need to adopt holistic policy strategies that take into account the full range of macro and institutional requirements and reforms, and prioritize these reforms in accordance with each country’s specific characteristics.

The importance of financial inclusion is increasingly recognized by policymakers around the world. Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financial inclusion, in particular, is at the core of the economic diversification and growth challenges many countries are facing. In the Middle East and Central Asia (MENAP and CCA) regions, SMEs represent an important share of firms, but the regions lag most others in terms of SME access to financing.