Ripple Labs (formerly OpenCoin) developed the Ripple protocol, which makes transacting as easy as emailing. The San Francisco-based startup is privately funded. Its team of cryptographers, security experts, distributed network developers, Silicon Valley and Wall Street veterans enables businesses of any size to easily build payment solutions and accelerate the movement of money globally.
In this age of “big data,” technology has begun to drive strategy formation, and this shift could have big implications for traditional businesses and social enterprises alike. In this blog post, Philip Evans, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, explains why. Most traditional businesses, he says, operate in a value chain, where transaction costs are the “glue” that holds the chain together. Large corporations (such as banks) have been able to fend off competition by sufficiently reducing transaction costs through economies of scale. However, as the accessibility and flow of information has become cheaper and faster, the transaction costs traditionally associated with accessing the information needed to make key business decisions (e.g., extending a loan) have plummeted.
Dear Sir or Madam,I am Hedzer a student from the VU University of Amsterdam and I currently am conducting research on micro, small and medium enterprises at Thapar University. I have created a survey which investigates the effects of these firms' relations on their performances.Please, take the survey if you are concerned about your firm's relations. As a reward, you will receive an executive summary of the outcomes, which give you insights on your firm’s relations in relation to its performance.Your input will be treated with confidentiality and will not be used for any other purposes than this research. It takes approximately 10 minutes of your time. Thank you for your time.Please, follow this link to the Survey:https://vuass.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1M1HgmQusox6c0BIf you have any questions please ask me.Yours sincerely,Mr. H. Heijink – VU University – MSc thesisDr. P.K. Nair – Thapar University – director LM Thapar School of Managment, Dr. Engineering., Ph.D., MBA, M.Tech.
as in UK, over 1000 people attending, more VCs and fewer bankers perhaps than in London, but surprisingly formally dressed (relatively few T shirts and chinos - I wisely decided to bring my suit jacket!) here are the firms that I'm remembering...1. Bode Tree - based in Denver, www.bodetree.com. - a 2-sided platform to enable small business owners to better manage their businesses and their banks to deliver an improved customer experience and more appropriately selected financial services. they're mostly offering this through white label through FI partners...also helps target non-financial support. they're not really that keen in short term on emerging markets, but if there was strong FI partner interest, would think more.2. Nearex - www.nearex.com - a low cost NFC platform for really small merchants to have robust, affordable payment options...combinaton of stored value card and a really small reader (Xip micropayment system) that even a matatu payment person could carry on a lanyard (or a market vendor)...these folks are from singapore, very interested in emerging market applications. the partners come out of mobile payments industry. 3. Kreditech - www.kreditech.com - big data scoring and underwriting, currently only for consumer, but they will broaden...started in Poland, working in Czech Republic, Russia, Spain, Mexico and Austria, too. They are soon going to Brazil and Philippines. already have $22.5M raised...4. Quisk - www.quisk.co - first central bank sanctioned all digital bank account with complete and secure banking functionality. experience with business correspondents network development in cash to digital commerce conversion...relatively young company, pre-revenue but have VC backing already. 5. Privat bank "topless ATM" www.privatbank.ua - ukraine bank developed ATM run by android phone that is fraction of the size and complexity of others...needs NFC or Wifi, but very clever (almost didn't make it through US customs in time for the show, but a big hit)...6. eyeverify - www.eyeverify.com - very clever eyeprint verification system for mobile devices of all sorts. targetting mobile banking and payments platforms...uses existing camera on smartphones. patents held...7. crealogix - www.ebanking.crealogix.com - e-learning system now only for consumer finance/responsible finance, but can see how this could be extended into SME and other spaces...really like the clever way they can immediately launch a relevant learning module to test the customer right when customer wants to investigate new service...already publicly traded in switzerland, a number of big banking clients...a model for how something like SME toolkit could be made more intereactive and immediate???8. Endeavour/Zoot /Jumio partnership - www.techendeavour.com (and www.jumio.com and www. zootweb.com ) - mobile transactions platform integrated with innovative ID validation with real-time risk management decision engine. mobile account opening and CRM capabilities.....and interest in emerging markets...based in Austin, Texas, backed by a leading PE firm, Basil Investments. 9. Flexscore - www.flexscore.com - consumer finance, but clever use of gaming to raise financial capability and change financial behavior, which could be extended possibly into SME (not their focus now). target both consumers and personal financial advisors now... based in San Francisco. 10. intelliresponse - www.intelliresponse.com - VOICES technology helps assess and optimize automated customer response channels (either on phone or on-line), can literally translate the interactions into systems analysis to determine opportunities to improve effectiveness...more than 150 customers, ...toronto based firm...not really SME specific, but could be applied to SME automated services...absolutely brilliant software, both in its cleverness and in the graphic design...really, really clear and simple...11. Loop - www.looppay.com - mobile wallet that can store and organize all one's magnetic strip cards and pay using existing POS "rails".. so all in your smartphone, it does every payment, you decide what payment source to use each time.. also adds greater security to mag card payments ..really clever, but in emerging markets maybe the magnetic strip cards won't be much of an issue (except in LAC)? 12. Pixeliris/Copsonic - reported on these guys from Finovate Europe - www.copsonic.com - love the way they focus on contactless payment that can work with any cellphone, no matter how old....oriented to emerging markets, and in particular those that won't have lots of smartphone penetration for a while (though the tech works with smartphones, too - uses sonic waves for secure ID)...13. Verde International - www.verdeadvisor.com - very interested in emerging markets, and already working with XacBank in Mongolia - loan underwriting optimization engine, geared toward markets where conventional financial info is scarce...uses advanced behavioral models and projected cash flows, based in Atlanta...not just SME, but they are using for SME lending. 14. ZenPayroll - www.zenpayroll.com - payroll implementation and compliance reporting made simpler and more appropriate for SMEs...they already have Kleiner Perkins backing them (among others, more than $26M raised)...wish could interest them in emerging markets, but not for a while....San Francisco-based.not bad, out of 69-70 presenters....and even the ones still firmly focused on US market say that's only for the next year, because in their businesses if they take off fast there, they get more funding, and quickly expand market horizons...see the websites for more detail
SMEs are widely regarded as a key growth driver of the UAE economy and have increasingly grown in importance over the past few years. Contributing to 60 percent of the UAE’s non-oil GDP and 86 percent of private sector employment, the sector has played a critical role in the diversification of the country’s economy. As the sector continues to grow in importance, it is essential for these businesses to have access to a leading range of products designed to help entrepreneurs and small companies achieve their growth ambitions.
Irish SMEs, who make up 99.6% of Ireland’s total employers and employ 70% of the Irish work force, can contribute most to reducing unemployment, but this cannot happen while their access to credit remains constrained, according to Simon Davies, CEO of Bibby Financial Services (BFSI) Europe. He noted that while the Irish economy shows promising signs of recovery, Irish SMEs remain disproportionately impacted by the ongoing credit squeeze.
There is huge scope for the financial institutions to innovate offerings and channels to reach out to the underserved yet significant market opportunity presented by over 3 million women-owned enterprises in India.
Research highlights how much more difficult it is for women entrepreneurs to obtain bank credit compared to men. Though several financial institutions in India have taken innovative measures to enhance access to finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), women-owned MSMEs continue to be on the fringe. IFC’s study on “Improving access to finance for women-owned businesses in India” highlights financial institutions’ apparent lack of interest in women-owned businesses. Financial institutions’ lack of belief in the women-owned enterprises has led to fragmented and unfocussed efforts and resulted in inappropriate products and processes for the segment.
The key driving factor is financial institutions’ skepticism towards women-owned enterprises. The roots of this attitude can be traced back to the skewed gender-balance in the staff structure of financial institutions in India. Only 17 percent of employees in scheduled commercial banks in India are female, which impacts the outlook of staff towards women-owned enterprises (perhaps due to the societal biases).
Financial institutions see micro enterprises (around 97.5 per cent of women-owned MSMEs in India are micro enterprises and operate in informal sector) as high-risk, which further complicates the issue.
Furthermore, India is a patriarchal society, and so women members of the household have limited or no entitlement to immovable and movable property. This gender-asset gap drives a cycle of lack of access to finance (see diagram). The lack of entitlement to property reduces women’s access to finance and increases their dependence on male members to avail credit from financial institutions. The financial institutions to date have failed to recognize that the non-entitlement to property leads to poor financial access for the segment.
Another effect of this perception of risk and the lack of women’s rights to property is the lack of efforts to develop suitable products and marketing efforts for the women-owned businesses’ segment. Only a limited number of public sector banks such as Canara Bank, SBI, SIDBI and Punjab National Bank offer specific products aligned to the needs of women-owned enterprises. Despite its tremendous potential, the majority of the financial institutions, especially private sector banks and non-banking financial institutions, see the segment as unworthy of their attention. Remarkably, even the banks that offer customized products hardly give any importance to targeted marketing and communication leading to poor product uptake and product performance.
In addition, banks make negligible efforts to simplify or adequately communicate processes to address women (and indeed most MSME) entrepreneurs’ lack of awareness of procedural requirements. This lack of clarity on documentary requirements leads to repeated trips to the financial institution and an eventual disillusionment with the process.
Another reason for financial institutions’ apathy is women entrepreneurs’ need for small ticket size loans. Small loans have high per customer cost of administration and servicing in comparison to the expected revenue. Additionally, the credit risk assessment process, which generally is very sophisticated, is the same for small and large loans, so financial institutions have to bear equal cost on both types of loans. Thus it does not make any business sense for financial institutions to invest in low-ticket size small loans.
The study on “Improving access to finance for women-owned businesses in India”, details out these factors for readers to understand the issue along with recommendations to overcome the challenge.
To enhance access to finance to women-owned businesses, the banks and financial institutions should:
There is a high potential market of 3 million enterprises waiting for banks that implement these recommendations!
In the Asia-Pacific region, SMEs comprise 98% of enterprises and employ 50% of the workforce. In this interview, Professor Asad Ata discusses the barriers to financing SMEs and innovative approaches banks can use to meet their diverse needs.
Agricultural finance institutions, and the policies, rules and regulations under which they operate, are lagging behind changes in the “real economy”. Recent years have seen significant innovations in certain countries but these are slow in spreading across borders or, for that matter, across institutions.
One of the interesting and important recent developments in wealth management has been the emergence of a group of clients committed to investing with impact across their entire portfolios, meaning they seek to deliver measurable positive social or environmental benefits with every dollar they put to work.
