The Use of Leasing in Financially Constrained Firms: An Analysis for European SMEs

Severe informational asymmetries, small size, unreliable financial statements and lack of collateral hamper the access of SMEs to traditional sources of debt financing. We use a survey data set of 4,583 SMEs from 25 European countries to analyse whether the use of leasing as a form of financing could fill the financing gap of constrained SMEs. We do so analysing whether the use of leasing by SMEs is triggered by the existence of financial constraints. Our findings indicate that after controlling for firm, bank and country-specific characteristics the likelihood of using leasing increases for financially constrained SMEs, which confirms our hypothesis. This paper contributes to the debate about differences in the use of lease financing between constrained and unconstrained SMEs, providing to the best of our knowledge, the first international evidence using a survey assessment of self-declared financial constraints for SMEs.The authors acknowledge financial support by Santander Financial Institute and Fundación UCEIF

Legal and Institutional Determinants of Factoring in SMEs: Empirical Analysis across 25 European Countries

Weak protection of the rights of financiers intensifies agency problems in SME financing, inhibiting the optimal provision of credit necessary to grow and innovate. We use a survey data set of 4,348 SMEs from 25 European countries to analyze whether the use of factoring as a form of SME financing is less dependent on low quality of laws and institutions. We do so analyzing whether the use of factoring by SMEs differs across countries due to differences in the legal protection of creditors. Our findings indicate that firms operating in countries with legal environments that weakly protect the rights of creditors, with political instability or high enforcement costs, are more likely to use factoring. Managers of riskier and opaque companies operating in such inefficient environments can use the results of this study to better understand that there are suitable options to complement bank financing. Managers who seek loans can use the results to diversify their financing structure through the use of factoring. Since factoring can be used as a complement to bank loans or as a substitute for bank financing, it is important that policy makers take our results into account when revising policies concerning access to external financing.Ginés Hernández-Cánovas acknowledges financial support by Fundación Séneca (Project 15403/PHCS/10), and by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Project ECO2011-29080)

Do foreign banks intensify borrower discouragement? The role of developed European institutions in ameliorating SME financing constraints

The growing activity of foreign banks in most European countries may increase financing constraints by intensifying the problem of borrower discouragement. We provide new evidence of this association by analysing a sample of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in 25 developed and developing European countries. We find that financing constraints increase with foreign banks for those SMEs operating in countries where the share of banking assets owned by foreign banks is above 34%. Our results also show that borrower discouragement may decrease, or increase less, with the presence of foreign banks for SMEs operating in countries with high income, with cheap debt enforcement mechanisms, or having a private bureau that provides credit information about firms and individuals. These results suggest that unification towards better institutions needs to occur in Europe before the banking union progresses to a more open banking system.Ana Mol-Gómez-Vázquez and Ginés Hernández-Cánovas acknowledge financial support by Santander Financial Institute (SANFI) and Fundación UCEIF

"Target Debt ratios: The impact of equity mis-pricing" "Target Debt ratios: differential rates of adjustment and market timing"

Abstract Previous studies disagree on the rate of speed with which firms adjust their leverage toward a target leverage. We argue that a portion of this variance is caused by two factors. First, firms face a 'hard' boundary when over levered. This is due to the present value of bankruptcy costs increasing at an increasing rate. These firms will adjust toward a target debt ratio more rapidly than under levered firms which face a 'soft' boundary. Second, if a firm's equity is mis-priced, the cost of issuing equity may be reduced/increased. Our empirical findings support the above conjectures. The findings are robust to various means of measuring leverage and mis-pricing. "Target Debt ratios: differential rates of adjustment and market timing" Abstract Previous studies disagree on the rate of speed with which firms adjust their leverage toward a target leverage. We argue that a portion of this variance is caused by two factors. First, firms face a 'hard' boundary when over levered. This is due to the present value of bankruptcy costs increasing at an increasing rate. These firms will adjust toward a target debt ratio more rapidly than under levered firms which face a 'soft' boundary. Second, if a firm's equity is mis-priced, the cost of issuing equity may be reduced/increased. Our empirical findings support the above conjectures. The findings are robust to various means of measuring leverage and mis-pricing

Bank market power and the intensity of borrower discouragement: analysis of SMEs across developed and developing European countries

This paper analyzes the effect of bank market power on the financial constraints of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the study of borrower discouragement. We use a cross-country sample of 2582 firms in 25 developed and developing European countries. Our results show that the intensity of borrower discouragement decreases with the level of bank market power, and this result is robust to the use of concentration and industrial organization measures of competition. When our model allows for non-monotonic effects, we show that more bank market power might increase borrower discouragement for firms operating in less developed economies and in countries with a high degree of bank market power. These results explain the conflicting evidence provided in previous literature concerning countries with different levels of economic development and bank market power. Our paper sets limits to the continuous concentration process in the European banking market, which may result in more discouraged and financially restricted SMEs

Banking stability and borrower discouragement: a multilevel analysis for SMEs in the EU-28

The promotion of a more stable European banking system has become a priority which, not doubt, will bring important benefits to firms. However, bank stability comes with stronger regulations that could harm the access to finance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are highly dependent on bank financing. We provide new evidence on the association between the stability of a country’s banking system and SMEs access to finance through the study of borrower discouragement. We analyze 20,207 observations gathered among 16,382 firms operating in the EU-28 during the period 2011–2018. Applying multilevel methodology, our results show that SMEs operating in countries with more stable banking systems are less likely to be discouraged from applying for a loan. Working to achieve a more stable banking system does not seem to harm the access to finance of SMEs.The authors acknowledge financial support from Agencia Estatal de Investigación (https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033), research project PID2019-106314GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. We also acknowledge financial support from Fundación UCEIF and Santander Financial Institute (SANFI)

Market timing and the debt-equity choice

We test the market timing theory of capital structure using an earnings-based valuation model that allows us to separate equity mispricing from growth options and time-varying adverse selection; thus avoiding the multiple interpretations of book-to-market ratio. We find that equity market mispricing plays a significant, if not dominant, role in the security choice decision. Our results are robust to the inclusion of proxies for time-varying growth options and alternate methods of measuring misvaluation.Capital structure Market timing Security choice Mispricing Earnings-based valuation Residual income model

Legal and Institutional Determinants of Factoring in SMEs:Empirical Analysis across 25 European Countries

Weak protection of the rights of financiers intensifies agency problems in SME financing, inhibiting the optimal provision of credit necessary to grow and innovate. We use a survey data set of 4,348 SMEs from 25 European countries to analyze whether the use of factoring as a form of SME financing is less dependent on low quality of laws and institutions. We do so analyzing whether the use of factoring by SMEs differs across countries due to differences in the legal protection of creditors. Our findings indicate that firms operating in countries with legal environments that weakly protect the rights of creditors, with political instability or high enforcement costs, are more likely to use factoring. Managers of riskier and opaque companies operating in such inefficient environments can use the results of this study to better understand that there are suitable options to complement bank financing. Managers who seek loans can use the results to diversify their financing structure through the use of factoring. Since factoring can be used as a complement to bank loans or as a substitute for bank financing, it is important that policy makers take our results into account when revising policies concerning access to external financing

Economic and institutional determinants of lease financing for European SMEs: An analysis across developing and developed countries

In light of an economic recession at a global scale, we should turn our attention toward sources of funding which, as leasing, present clear advantages to the more vulnerable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Applying logistic models on a sample of 4,425 SMEs from 25 European countries, we show that financial constraints and the characteristics of the institutional environment might play a distinctive role in the use of leasing for SMEs across developing and developed countries. Consequently, leasing regulations should be carefully studied to trigger rather than sink the feasibility with which leasing might be deployed and used.The Authors acknowledge financial support by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2019-106314GB-I00), Santander Financial Institute (SANFI) and Fundación UCEIF

The Use of Leasing in Financially Constrained Firms: An Analysis for European SMEs

Severe informational asymmetries, small size, unreliable financial statements and lack of collateral hamper the access of SMEs to traditional sources of debt financing. We use a survey data set of 4,583 SMEs from 25 European countries to analyse whether the use of leasing as a form of financing could fill the financing gap of constrained SMEs. We do so analysing whether the use of leasing by SMEs is triggered by the existence of financial constraints. Our findings indicate that after controlling for firm, bank and country-specific characteristics the likelihood of using leasing increases for financially constrained SMEs, which confirms our hypothesis. This paper contributes to the debate about differences in the use of lease financing between constrained and unconstrained SMEs, providing to the best of our knowledge, the first international evidence using a survey assessment of self-declared financial constraints for SMEs.The authors acknowledge financial support by Santander Financial Institute and Fundación UCEIF