BU Research Blog

Congratulations to Jens Hölscher from the Business School for his ESRC Festival of Social Science project for ‘Finance for SMEs: The role of assessing credit risk’.

 This funding will contribute to a unique one-day event on 6th November 2013, organised by the Business School, which will bring together practitioners and academics in order to discuss the most pertinent issues of SMEs’ finance and credit risk with a view to setting a research agenda relevant to lenders and regulators.

 Following the recent and continuing credit squeeze, lending to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) remains at the top of the agenda for governments around the world. With various political and economic incentives introduced to support SMEs, it is important not to overlook the practicalities of credit risk assessment, as access to credit is contingent on meeting the risk standards of credit providers, especially in the environment of prudent lending.

 Participants will engage in debate and keynote speakers from academia, government agencies and industry will be invited. Social sciences and social science research will be promoted by drawing on leading researchers and through interaction of speakers and attendees, which will include breakout sessions related to sub-schemes such as micro finance, the role of regional funds and development agencies.