This paper studies gender discrimination against entrepreneurs by financial institutions. Based on the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) that covers firms in several countries of Western Europe as well as in the transition countries of Eastern Europe, our analysis suggests that femalemanaged firms are less likely to obtain a bank loan compared with male-managed counterparts. In addition, there is some evidence that female entrepreneurs are charged higher interest rates when loan applications are approved. Disaggregation of the sample by country groups suggests that these results are driven by firms in the least financially developed countries of the region.

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According to the literature on traditional banking, lenders often discriminate against female borrowers. However, studies of peer-to-peer lending in the United States find that female borrowers have better chances of obtaining funds than do males. We provide evidence on the success of female borrowers at a large German peer-to-peer lending platform. Our results show that there is no effect of gender on the individual borrower's chance to receive funds on this platform, ceteris paribus. Several robustness checks confirm this finding. Hence, female discrimination seems to be eased by the 'wisdom of the lending crowd'.JEL classification: G11, J16, G20.