Soft information and the geography of SME bank lending

Tianshu Zhao; Kul B. Luintel; Kent Matthews

doi:10.1080/00343404.2020.1851024

Soft information and the geography of SME bank lending

Tianshu Zhao, Kul B. Luintel, Kent Matthews

Department of Finance, Accounting and Economics

Research output: Journal Publication › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper explores the geography of bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tests the argument that large institutions with complex organizational structures are better able to filter ‘hard’ information than ‘soft’ information. Mortgage lending is used as a control to illustrate the case of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ information. Using data on individual bank lending to SMEs and mortgages by postcode area in Great Britain for the period 2013(2)–2014(4), the paper explains the spatial dispersion of SME lending in the UK in terms of geographical distance and supports the policy of establishing a geographically decentralized financial system as a counterbalance.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	679-692
Number of pages	14
Journal	Regional Studies
Volume	55
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2020.1851024
Publication status	Published - 3 Apr 2021

Keywords

bank finance
functional distance
geography of small and medium-sized enterprise lending

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Environmental Science
General Social Sciences

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1080/00343404.2020.1851024

Cite this

@article{3e45b0c2e830491bba60336fb7e148d8,

title = "Soft information and the geography of SME bank lending",

abstract = "This paper explores the geography of bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tests the argument that large institutions with complex organizational structures are better able to filter {\textquoteleft}hard{\textquoteright} information than {\textquoteleft}soft{\textquoteright} information. Mortgage lending is used as a control to illustrate the case of {\textquoteleft}hard{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}soft{\textquoteright} information. Using data on individual bank lending to SMEs and mortgages by postcode area in Great Britain for the period 2013(2)–2014(4), the paper explains the spatial dispersion of SME lending in the UK in terms of geographical distance and supports the policy of establishing a geographically decentralized financial system as a counterbalance.",

keywords = "bank finance, functional distance, geography of small and medium-sized enterprise lending",

author = "Tianshu Zhao and Luintel, {Kul B.} and Kent Matthews",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Regional Studies Association.",

year = "2021",

month = apr,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1080/00343404.2020.1851024",

language = "English",

volume = "55",

pages = "679--692",

journal = "Regional Studies",

issn = "0034-3404",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Soft information and the geography of SME bank lending

AU - Zhao, Tianshu

AU - Luintel, Kul B.

AU - Matthews, Kent

PY - 2021/4/3

Y1 - 2021/4/3

N2 - This paper explores the geography of bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tests the argument that large institutions with complex organizational structures are better able to filter ‘hard’ information than ‘soft’ information. Mortgage lending is used as a control to illustrate the case of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ information. Using data on individual bank lending to SMEs and mortgages by postcode area in Great Britain for the period 2013(2)–2014(4), the paper explains the spatial dispersion of SME lending in the UK in terms of geographical distance and supports the policy of establishing a geographically decentralized financial system as a counterbalance.

AB - This paper explores the geography of bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tests the argument that large institutions with complex organizational structures are better able to filter ‘hard’ information than ‘soft’ information. Mortgage lending is used as a control to illustrate the case of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ information. Using data on individual bank lending to SMEs and mortgages by postcode area in Great Britain for the period 2013(2)–2014(4), the paper explains the spatial dispersion of SME lending in the UK in terms of geographical distance and supports the policy of establishing a geographically decentralized financial system as a counterbalance.

KW - bank finance

KW - functional distance

KW - geography of small and medium-sized enterprise lending

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097852301&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/00343404.2020.1851024

DO - 10.1080/00343404.2020.1851024

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85097852301

SN - 0034-3404

VL - 55

SP - 679

EP - 692

JO - Regional Studies

JF - Regional Studies

IS - 4

ER -

Soft information and the geography of SME bank lending

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this