Government‐Certified Information and Bank Lending to SMEs : Evidence From China's Innovation Points System

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether government‐certified information improves SMEs' access to bank credit. Using China's Innovation Points System (IPS) as a quasi‐natural experiment and a panel of 2128 SMEs from 2016 to 2023, we employ a staggered difference‐in‐differences design. We find that IPS significantly increases firms' bank borrowing by 7.58% relative to the sample mean. The effect is stronger for firms with greater bank‐firm information asymmetry, weaker financial profiles, and stronger innovation capacity. Overall, the results are consistent with the view that government‐certified information improves lenders' assessment of borrowers, thereby reducing credit frictions and enhancing credit allocation.