Articles

The IFC in partnership with the Department of Finance, the Land Registration Authority, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Trade and Industry, various MSMEs and banking associations to construct a new bill to support MSMEs in the Philippines. 

The Personal Property Security Act (Republic Act No 11057) will allow MSMEs to utilize movable assets to obtain credit. This will benefit MSME farmers in particular, allowing them increased access to finance and participation in the global market. 

Medici examines the potential blockchain can have on the insurance industry. According to the article, blockchain is the answer to various stress-points throughout the insurance value chain. Areas where blockchain applications are being developed include: claims management and verification, new product and platform development, and record keeping, according to the article. 

The key benefits towards value chain for insurance include:

SMEs are still struggling to curate working capital. Medici examines the glitches in SME lending, automation of onboarding customers and loan origination and how banks can make real change in SME lending. Reported errors in the SME lending:

The head of the EU delegation to Egypt, Ambassador Ivan Surkoš reported the European Union (EU), with support from European financial institutions will provide €475 million in loans to support SMEs. 

EU launched the ‘EU Facility for Inclusive Growth and Job Creation,’ which aims to provide an environment of business creation and economic development and generate jobs by supporting enterprise growth and competitiveness, according to the article. 

India has lended to hundreds throughout the unbanked community and is the largest microfinance market in the world, according to Next Billion. 

Microfinance in India has its pros and cons. It’s able to reach customers that mainstream financial institutions fail to notice, but it also lacks adequate regulation, making it dangerous for borrowers. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stepped in and created more stabilization for microfinance institutions by providing regulation and oversight.

Financial barriers seem to be an unshakeable hardship for SMEs. World Finance addresses the difficulties faced by SMEs to retrieve funding from capital markets, and encourages SMEs to create their own ecosystem for capital.

The article suggest, SMEs take their equity supply into their own hands to see results. SMEs creating their own ecosystem to meet their capital needs, according to the article, will result in:

Kelvin Teo, Top 200 FinTech Influencers in Asia recipient, and Reynold Wijaya, Forbes 30 under 30 recipient are both Harvard Business School graduates and co-founders for the company Funding Societies | Modalku.

Funding Societies | Modalku is Southeast Asia’s largest peer-to-peer financing platform geared towards supporting SMEs grow their business and providing access to financing. The founders’ have a passion for serving SMEs and have experienced first-hand the issues SME’s face, as one co-founder grew up in an environment with a family-owned business. 

In this article, sustainability strategies are discussed and how they can improve SMEs. Cost and time have proved to be a deterrent for SMEs initial involvement in the process. According to the article, a good strategy includes: economic, environmental and social performance goals. The elements attached to each are listed below:

In the UK 1.5 billion adults are “unbanked” according to Ronnie Lavie, Managing Editor for the Fintech Times. A vicious cycle, of financial exclusion has interrupted lower-income populations from enjoying the benefits from the fintech industry.
 

One in three start-ups in the Arab World is led by women—a higher rate than in Silicon Valley, according to an IFC article. Improving access to finance and promoting digital platforms are key to helping them succeed. The article says that many entrepreneurs from the region believe that technology is one of the few spaces where everything is viewed as possible, including breaking gender norms, and is therefore a very attractive industry for women.