“Only Dead Fish Swim Downstream”: Innovations in MSME Risk Management

On January 28th, a group of 40-50 emerging market SME bankers gathered in Goa, India to partake in Capital Plus Exchange’s hands-on Credit Risk and Problem Loan Management workshop.In her welcoming address, CapPlus’ CEO Lynn Pickholz emphasized the importance for lenders to implement new risk management techniques through an analogy: “Only the dead fish swim downstream.”The next two days were focused on exchanging insights and best practices on reducing and monitoring credit risk as well as ameliorating problem loans. Below, EFL shares some of the common pain points felt by MSME lenders and key takeaways on best practices.