Banking the Missing Middle
Risk, Distance, and SME Credit in the West African Monetary Union
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Beschreibung
This book examines why small and medium-sized enterprises in Francophone West Africa remain central to employment, trade, and private-sector growth yet continue to face constrained access to formal bank credit. Drawing on original evidence from Burkina Faso and interpreting it within the common monetary and supervisory architecture of UMOA/WAEMU, the book argues that the SME financing gap cannot be explained by borrower weakness or generic banker caution alone. It is produced through the interaction of information asymmetry, risk assessment, collateral requirements, documentation burdens, branch geography, approval hierarchies, and the internal organization of bank lending. Combining academic analysis with banking-sector experience, the book develops a practical policy architecture for banks, regulators, development finance institutions, and SME support agencies seeking to widen productive credit without weakening prudential discipline.
This book examines why small and medium-sized enterprises in Francophone West Africa remain central to employment, trade, and private-sector growth yet continue to face constrained access to formal bank credit. Drawing on original evidence from Burkina Faso and interpreting it within the common monetary and supervisory architecture of UMOA/WAEMU, the book argues that the SME financing gap cannot be explained by borrower weakness or generic banker caution alone. It is produced through the interaction of information asymmetry, risk assessment, collateral requirements, documentation burdens, branch geography, approval hierarchies, and the internal organization of bank lending. Combining academic analysis with banking-sector experience, the book develops a practical policy architecture for banks, regulators, development finance institutions, and SME support agencies seeking to widen productive credit without weakening prudential discipline.
Combines original survey evidence from bank officers and managers with a practical policy architecture Bridges academic theory and banking practice by showing which factors make SMEs visible or invisible to formal finance Discusses Burkina Faso's bank-side SME credit evidence as a window into the regional UMOA missing-middle finance problem
Autor*in
Kouafilann Abdoulaye Sory
Themen in »Banking the Missing Middle«
Burkina Faso UMOA Shared Banking Space SME Lending Banking Francophone West Africa Development Finance SME Finance