L’accès au financement des PME en France : quel rôle joué par la structure du système bancaire ?

In this thesis, we conduct an analysis of potential causes of SME bank financing constraints in relation to the profound changes affecting the organization of the French banking system mainly due to deregulation and ICT advances. Three lines of inquiry have emerged: i) the strengthening, since the early 2000s, of the French banking system supply through the increased diffusion of bank branches is it likely to contribute to the promotion of relationship lending, suited to the particular segment of SMEs? ii) The intense movement of French bank restructuring and ICT progress are they increasing the organizational problems inherent in relationship lending and ultimately worsen SME funding pressures? iii) Relationship lending can be strategically used by banks in order to soften interbank competition, which has continued to grow despite bank mergers? The theoretical modeling and empirical evaluation of these issues conducted on a sample of French SMEs data over the period 2001-2009 show that the diffusion of bank branches has a positive impact on the credit availability whereas the concentration of bank decision making centers is likely to limit the access of SMEs to bank financing. The hypothesis of the strategic adoption of relational financing as a mean of softening interbank competition is also confirmed for the French case.