金融科技“赋能”能否打破中小企业融资的“空间壁垒”——来自银行业空间布局变动的微观证据

Can Fintech Break through the“Space Barriers”to SMEs Financing through Empowerment?——Micro Evidence from the Changes in Spatial Layout of the Banking Industry

本文选取我国2011—2019年新三板上市公司为样本,结合信息经济学和金融地理学理论,系统考察了金融科技发展对中小企业融资空间特征的影响。研究发现:中小企业融资存在“空间壁垒”,空间距离增加会加重中小企业的融资约束程度;而金融科技发展能够在一定程度上打破这一“空间壁垒”。但就不同性质的地理距离而言,金融科技对运营距离的影响比对功能距离的影响更为显著,这可能反映了金融科技在克服软信息跨组织层级传递的困难时存有局限性。机制检验显示,实现数字化信息对传统软信息的替代、提高银行对企业的信息甄别能力是金融科技发挥“破壁”效果的关键。金融科技的应用、银行的数字化转型努力和企业的数字化信息沉淀等均是实现信息有效替代过程中不可或缺的因素。金融科技的“破壁”效果在交通欠发达地区、大型银行占比更高和竞争更激烈的信贷市场以及数字化转型程度更高的企业有着更为显著的体现。

Selecting a sample of China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations(NEEQ)listed companies between 2011 and 2019,and combining the theories of information economics and financial geography,this paper systematically investigates the impact of fintech development on the characteristics of financing space for small and medium-size enterprises(SMEs).The research find⁃ings reveal that there are“space barriers”in the financing of SMEs,and an increase in spatial distance exacerbates the constraints on their financing.However,the development of fintech can partially dismantle these barriers.It is worth noting that the impact of fintech on operational distance is more significant than on functional distance,indicating certain limitations of fintech in addressing the challenges associated with cross-organizational transmission of soft information.Mechanism tests indicate that the key to fintech’s“breaking the barriers”effect lies in substituting digital information for traditional soft information and enhancing banks’ability to discern information about businesses.The application of fintech,the digital transformation efforts of banks,and the digital informa⁃tion accumulation of enterprises are all indispensable factors in the process of effective information substitution.The effect is more pronounced in regions with limited transformation infrastructure,credit markets with more large banks and more competition,and en⁃terprises with a higher degree of digital transformation.