The effect of accessibility to bank branches on SME capital structure: evidence from Swedish panel data

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the effects of accessibility to bank branches on the capital structure of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by analysing the change in three different leverage measures (total, short-term and long-term leverage). Design/method/approach – The analysis was conducted using random effects models on two data samples. The full sample consists of 19,064 SMEs while the other sample used to estimate the long-term leverage consists of 8,707 SMEs for two years, 2007 and 2013. Findings – The results show that the distance to the nearest bank branch has a negative relationship with total leverage and short-term leverage but a small positive relationship with long-term leverage. An interesting result from the robustness test shows that the distance to the nearest bank has a negative relationship with long-term leverage in SMEs in rural areas. Practical implications – SME owners and policy-makers may benefit from this research amidst the changing banking landscape; policy-makers can help to increase access to other types of funding to SMEs in bank deserts by increasing the volume of governmental loans. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the distance to the nearest bank branch office has not been examined in earlier literature as a determinant of leverage for SMEs.
QC 20211124