Background: Small and medium-sized enterprises have a significant importance in society and previous research points out that it can be problematic for enterprises to obtain bank loans as a result of increased digitalization in the credit granting process. Previous theories have also explained that existing corporate clients hold a higher status with the bank, but no further research on the subject has been identified.

Purpose: The main purpose of the study is to describe and identify how banks in the Swedish credit market carry out credit assessments of small and medium-sized enterprises as a result of increased digitalization in the lending process. The secondary purpose includes comparing whether the credit assessment is handled differently between existing and new corporate clients. The study intends to contribute with theory development through a model that explains the above aspects.

Research question: How does digitalization affect the credit assessment of small and medium-sized enterprises, and are there similarities or differences in the credit assessment between existing and new corporate clients?

Literature review and theory: The study's literature review and theory presents previous research and theories regarding credit assessment, how increased digitalization affects credit assessment and different sources of information. The chapter presents, among other things, the 5C model, the agent theory and two well-known lending methods which include relationship- and transaction-based lending.

Methodology: The study is of a qualitative nature and has been conducted with an abductive approach. The empirical data is collected through ten interviews from five different banks and the analysis is based on a content analysis. The empirical data is structured on the respondents' answers and categories that have been identified through data processing of the respondents' answers.

Conclusions: The conclusions of the study indicate that digitalization has an impact on the credit assessment of small and medium-sized enterprises, but that it is the smallest credits that have been most affected. There is a difference in the credit assessment of existing versus new corporate clients, which is mainly due to the fact that the relationship is significant.