Digital technology is essential to better financial services for small businesses




Asia's Developing Future show

Summary: Digital technology is essential to better financial services for small businesses Better financial services are needed by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), such as secured transaction frameworks, credit information systems, and insolvency regimes. Among the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum economies, MSMEs represent more than 60% of total employment, 40% of gross domestic product, and 15% of total exports, but some 40% of their financial needs go unserved, mainly because they are too small to get banks’ attention. Shawn Hunter, David Dole, and Valdimir dela Cruz explain. Read the transcript https://bit.ly/2V1WGGz Read the policy brief https://www.adb.org/publications/financial-inclusion-digital-age About the authors Shawn Hunter is manager of Inclusive Finance at the Foundation for Development Cooperation. Valdimir dela Cruz was an associate at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) at the time the paper was written. David Dole is senior economist at ADBI. Know more about ADBI’s work https://bit.ly/2GJxL7B https://bit.ly/2QH3ACy