Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) face many obstacles in developing countries, including cumbersome startup procedures, difficulties in accessing electricity, land, finance, and skilled labor, and political instability and corruption. But among all these issues, access to finance remains by far the most cited obstacle experienced by firms trying to formalize, grow, and increase productivity.

UNIDO, a UN agency, today said it will provide technical assistance in three major areas including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and renewal energy, for giving a boost to India's industrial growth.

 

Women have always worked in India, but the rise of the corporate woman in the last two decades in the banking sector has been phenomenal. India has no fewer than eight female banking bosses - indeed the appointment of Arundhati Bhattacharya as the first chairwoman of the country's largest bank, the State Bank of India, came days before the announcement of the new Federal Reserve nominee in the US, Janet Yellen.

Global Financial Development Report 2014 is the second in a new World Bank series, following the inaugural 2013 Global Financial Development Report, which re-examined the state’s role in finance after the global financial crisis. Common to both reports is that they present a nuanced approach to financial sector policy, grounded in a synthesis of new research evidence. The report presents new data and research, drawing on them to contribute to the policy discussion. It highlights novel evidence that financial inclusion can reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity.

The IMF’s latest Financial Access Survey (FAS) highlights how the access gap in Sub-Saharan Africa is fast narrowing when compared to other areas. One notable statistic is that commercial bank depositors leapt to 295 per 1,000 adults in 2012, up from 70 per 1,000 adults in 2004. This is an encouraging rise although some differences in institutions and countries included from each of the years do not make this a scientifically precise comparison. Globally, low-income countries had 332 per 1,000 adults and so Sub-Saharan Africa is nearly at par with countries at similar income levels. The promising trends in Africa are likely to gain momentum as mass market institutions like Equity Bank expand and pan-African banks such as Ecobank serve a broader segment of the population. Indeed, access to finance is keeping pace, or even outpacing, economic growth in various parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners from Japan are seeking local joint partnerships in Myanmar, according to sources interviewed at a forum held at the offices of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI).

A study finds that seven out of 10 SMEs have to rely only on their own savings. More sources of finance, including quicker and easier government-backed loans, should be available to small and medium enterprises, the Macau SMEs Association says.
The association published yesterday a white paper based on the findings of a study of 541 Macau SMEs by Jinan University in Guangdong.

In recent years policy makers have shown increased interest in fostering fast growing enterprises as they are seen as a key driver of economic growth and employment. Europe has performed relatively badly in generating high-growth innovative companies that quickly become global leaders.
Against this background this Policy Brief addresses the following main questions: What role
can the EU level play in supporting high-growth SMEs? How are policies in support of high-growth SMEs distinct from general SME policy? What examples of such effective policies exist?

Acceleration programmes, schemes aimed at supporting young technology companies, could help reshape the energy sector.

Reducing the number of branches offers the potential for huge savings, since these account for about half of all costs in retail banking. Yet the dilemma facing banks, new and old, is that the most complex and profitable financial products, such as mortgages, are still sold in branches. It also tends to be easier to entice customers to use several such products in person.In moving to an online-only model, banks risk losing their most profitable clients while gaining the ones who are most promiscuous in their relationships with banks, reckons Andy Maguire of BCG, a consulting firm. Until online banks become better than the traditional sort at selling things like mortgages and getting their customers to make use of multiple offerings, they are likely to remain exciting experiments that appeal to the young and technologically adept. If they get it right, however, the threat to the bricks-and-mortar banks will be serious.