Do Internet Credit Markets Improve Access to Credit for Female Business Owners?

摘要

Business owners and founders are a minority of any bank's business clients. Scientific studies of traditional credit markets often show a lower probability of loan approval or higher loan costs for female business owners compared to male business owners. With this background the question arises whether female business owners have to struggle with this problem less on Internet credit markets. In this current study, DIW Berlin investigated business loans on the largest German Internet platform, smava. smava connects private individuals who wish to take on installment loan at a fixed interest rate or wish to lend money. The findings show that female borrowers are positioned at least as well as their male counterparts on smava. If all other loan and borrower-specific characteristics remain the same, then the loan requests of female business owners have even better prospects for success than loan requests from men. There are indications that this result is not platform-specific, but also applies to other innovative credit markets.