FRANKFURT—Ten years ago, David Zimmer quit his management job to build his own fiber-optic network company in Germany. With €4 million ($4.9 million) in hand, he knocked at the door of about 20 banks for a €4 million loan. Private banks including heavyweights Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank didn’t even reply to requests for a meeting, Mr. Zimmer says. In the end, his company, Inexio, got funding from two small local lenders—a state-owned savings bank and a cooperative bank.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 22, 2018 10:30 UTC