The Current Status of SME Financing under the Financial Crisis: A summary of the Survey on the Status of Transactions between Businesses and Financial Institutions (Feb. 2008) and the Survey on the Status of Transactions between Businesses and Financial Institutions following the Financial Crisis (Feb. 2009). (Japanese)

This paper summarizes the results of two questionnaires presented to small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) by RIETI in February 2008 and February 2009. Given the limited data on SMEs, the purpose of the questionnaires is to understand the current status of financing for SMEs facing this serious economic recession, triggered by the financial crisis. The Survey on the Status of Transactions between Businesses and Financial Institutions conducted in February 2008, was sent to 17,018 companies nationwide, with SMEs being the main target, and of those recipients 6,124 companies or 36.0% responded. This survey, which was designed to explain the structural characteristics of SME financing, illustrated terms and conditions such as accounts payable and bills payable for inter-firm credit, differences in the roles of major lending financial institutions including main banks, and the impact of changes in the credit guarantee system in recent years. Regarding the Survey on the Status of Transactions between Businesses and Financial Institutions following the Financial Crisis conducted in February 2009, RIETI targeted 5,979 of the companies who responded to the 2008 survey and of those companies 4,103 or 68.6% responded. The survey was conducted to understand how the relationships between companies and financial institutions and customers and suppliers changed, and what measures SMEs took to address these changes, in light of the fact that the cash management of SMEs has been extremely difficult since last autumn, when the global credit crunch set in. Although the surveys were not identical, some of the same questions were asked in both surveys. The answers to these questions were then compared to see how conditions had changed and to understand which areas of SME financing had become more difficult.