Regional small businesses refocusing banking needs

Regional small businesses refocusing banking needs

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Singapore

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia are refocusing their banking needs beyond willingness to extend large amounts of credit, a market research firm's survey indicated on Tuesday.

SMEs are also looking at whether a bank offers products and services designed specifically for SMEs, and whether it has an extensive branch network and knowledgeable staff, according to the Kadence study published in The Business Times.

Development of banking products and services is important to 47 percent of the SMEs queried in Malaysia and 74 percent in Thailand.

Improvement in staff quality was overshadowed by the extension of branch networks in these markets, the survey said.

Nearly 74 percent of SMEs in Singapore who have noticed improvements in services said that these stemmed from banks providing a wider range.

Less than one-third of those in the city-state, Thailand and Malaysia cited better interest rates as a reason for believing banks have improved.

"Bank lending can be an expensive way of financing business, and SMEs are probably looking at alternative methods such as funding the business through personal assets, venture capital, and foreign partners," Piers Lee, Asia-Pacific director of Kadence, was quoted as saying.

The results are good news for international banks trying to break into the market, the survey report said, though SMEs still tend to turn to local banks.

The Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation is considered the "most improved" in Singapore, while Maybank received the nod in Malaysia and Bangkok Bank, Thailand's largest by assets, in that country.

Businesses established in the last five years were more likely to say that banks had become more adept at catering to SMEs.