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.

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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.

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