Corporate access to bank loans: Assessing the impact of company and loan size

Spanish companies benefit from lower bank borrowing costs than other Eurozone enterprises, irrespective of loan size. Loan costs are higher on smaller-sized loans, which are more commonly applied for by smaller companies. However, the extra cost paid by smaller enterprises relative to their larger counterparts is very small and much lower in Spain than in the Eurozone. Moreover, only a very low percentage of Spanish companies (4.53%) view access to finance as their main problem and even though that percentage rises among small enterprises (4.91%), the difference with large companies (4.43%) is narrow. Elsewhere, the percentage of companies that face obstacles in obtaining a bank loan is similar in Spain to that observed in the Eurozone (7.9% vs. 7.3%), the main impediment being fear of rejection. Micro enterprises perceive more obstacles although in Spain, this size penalty is virtually negligible. As a result, size counts, but very little in Spain.