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Why are Pakistani banks reluctant to lend to private sector, especially SMEs?

Why are Pakistani banks reluctant to lend to private sector, especially SMEs?

10 January 2023
| By Invoice Bazaar

Lately, banks in Pakistan have become reluctant to give loans to the private sector, especially to SMEs, for four main reasons. First and foremost, banks find it very difficult to recover bad loans due to the inability to enforce contracts because of flaws in the judicial system. Secondly, many Pakistani SMEs maintain two sets of financial books. In the official ones, they understate profits and inflate expenses to reduce tax liability, making it challenging to assess credit risks and repayment capacity. Furthermore, banks in the country are risk-averse. Lastly, government borrowings from banks have leapfrogged, leaving banks with less money to lend to the private sector.

The transaction banking revolution has only just begun

BY Euromoney

20/09/23

Congratulations to our Triterras’ Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Ashish Srivastava, who was interviewed and quoted in the article “The Transaction Banking Revolution has Only Just Begun” by Euromoney. Ashish was featured along with C-Suite Executives from Citi, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, among others.

Global Trade Finance Gap Expands to $2.5 Trillion in 2022

BY Asian Development Bank

13/09/23

Global Trade Finance gap, the difference between requests and approvals for financing to support imports and exports, grew to a record $2.5 trillion in 2022 from $1.7 trillion two years earlier, as rising interest rates, flagging economic prospects, inflation, and geopolitical volatility reduced the capacity of banks to deliver trade financing, according to the 2023 Trade Finance Gaps, Growth and Jobs Survey released today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

How blockchain-based facilities can close the $2tn global trade finance gap

BY Trade Finance Global

06/09/23

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Trade Finance: A Retrospective Analysis

BY Triterras

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Innovating Trade Finance for MSMEs

BY Triterras

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Ashish Srivastava, our Triterras' CCO and Rudy Shoushany, Founder of DxTalks, discuss how Triterras is solving the problems for the world's Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and the way Blockchain is playing a role in Trade Finance by helping to reduce risk associated with global trade in reconciling the divergent needs of exporters and importers.

The Future of FinTech: The Technological Revolution in Trade Finance

BY Triterras

16/08/23

Trade Finance has archaically been dependent on manual, paper-intensive processes, rendering it laborious and susceptible to errors, precipitated numerous challenges, encompassing a lack of transparency, processing delays, and restricted accessibility. FinTech is assuming a crucial role in modernizing Trade Finance by ushering in groundbreaking solutions that streamline processes, mitigate risks, and augment efficiency.

The Rising Influence of Non-Bank Financial Institutions in today’s market

BY Triterras

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Impact of Changing Interest Rate Expectations in US & Europe on TF Flows

BY Triterras

02/08/23

Trade finance, the financial instruments and products that enable international trade, are significantly influenced by interest rate expectations. As global trade powerhouses, the US and Europe's interest rate changes can ripple across worldwide trade finance flows.

Trade finance volumes robust as growth slows

BY Euromoney

26/07/23

Do trade providers expect growth or slowdown in global trade? Predictions that global trade will stagnate for the remainder of this year due to factors such as financial vulnerabilities and inflation. Ashish Srivastava, our Triterras' CCO tells Euromoney, "Global increase in trade finance lending interest rates in MSME segment has curtailed demand as certain marginally profitable business models do not support borrowing at higher rates”.

Financial market volatility complicates funding environment

BY Treasury Today Group

19/07/23

Trade finance is always a topic where the gap continues to widen and as much as companies are doing their best to close the gaps, there continues to always be the next hurdle. In this Treasury Today Group article, Mr. Srinivas Koneru, our Triterras' Chairman & CEO, refers to the trade finance market as cyclical, but adds that stricter capital requirements have reduced the amount of funding banks can make available for trade finance over the last 5 years.

The Resurgence of Letters of Credit: A Response to Tightening Liquidity & Rising Interest Rates

BY Triterras

12/07/23

The resurgence of LCs is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the global trade finance industry. It demonstrates the industry's ability to respond to changing circumstances, whether it is the rise of digital technology or the tightening of liquidity, it also underscores the enduring relevance of traditional financial instruments.

Trade Finance Receivables: A Growing Asset Class

BY Drip Capital

05/07/23

Trade finance assets have traditionally been ignored by investors because they perceive them as a complicated and unstructured asset class with multiple variations dependent on geographies, commodities or goods, and counterparty. But in recent years, this lesser-known asset class has drawn increasing interest as an uncorrelated investment with low risk and the possibility of high returns.

Impact of regional US banks’ fallout on Trade Finance: How LC & Open Account Financing fared in the crisis

BY Triterras

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The shocking failure and the dramatic shutdown of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) within 48 hours in March 2023, began with a Twitter-fuelled bank run, government actions (or inactions), Fed’s rate hikes, poor risk management, etc. The fallout from the collapse of America’s 16th largest commercial bank (followed by the Credit Suisse crisis), created a perfect storm that engulfed in itself, other US regional banks and rattled financial markets.

Trade finance must digitalize to combat fraud

BY Euromoney

21/06/23

When it comes to trade finance, it seems that the system is stuck in a time machine in the past. The traditional, and now seemly old-fashioned trail of paper trade documents are proving that the numbers frequently do not add up. Paul Golden at Euromoney spoke to Ram Arapally of Triterras in this great piece to help provide solutions to combat fraud and discuss the future of digitalization in trade finance. Digitalizing the system may just be the best way to match up those numbers.

The world’s trading system needs to ditch its paper trail

BY Financial Times

14/06/23

The world today is a digital one. Yet the global trading system is suffocating under a mountain of billions of paper documents. Currently, a trade transaction can require up to 40 different paper-based trade documents, many of which ask for the same information over and over again. The process is slow, costly and can take up to two to three months to complete.

A new paradigm for global trade

BY Standard Chartered

07/06/23

Global trade is shifting, with new centers emerging in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. High-growth corridors in these regions will help propel global trade from USD21tn to USD32.6tn by 2030. However, are businesses prepared to capture the opportunities offered by these shifts, given that almost half the global business leaders of today, are struggling with the impact of rising geopolitical tensions, tariffs, inflation, and energy prices?

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BY Triterras

31/05/23

Did you know that Supply Chain Finance is one of the fastest growing markets? But despite its rapid volume increase over the past few years, there is still a financing gap of $1.7 trillion as of 2020. Triterras' Chief Commercial Officer Ashish Srivastava explains the gap, how it impacts businesses and how digital supply chain is the future for economic recovery.

CRR hit to trade-finance banks should be avoided

BY Euromoney

24/05/23

Will the banking sector notice an increase in the cost of trade finance instruments? Mr. Srinivas Koneru, our Triterras' Chairman & CEO sheds light on this with an explanation on how banks will be selective with funding, and ultimately impacting small to medium businesses. The EU Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) seems to have notable impacts on EU banks.

Are the current Indian policies with regard to export financing sufficient to beat inflation?

BY Triterras

17/05/23

Though India has introduced new export financing policies to fight inflation, current export financing policies are inefficient in keeping up with the rising costs of exports. Many export businesses have had to cut back on their operations or even close down altogether, leading to a decrease in foreign exchange reserves and an increase in the cost of imported goods.

Triterras wins the Singapore SME 500 Award 2023

BY Triterras

17/05/23

Triterras' win was based on quantitative and qualitative assessments which cover background checks on our operating practices, adherence of our Directors to their duties, management and compliance, criminal and related legal checks, the scalability of business model as well as market acceptance and rating of our business. In view of such comprehensive and stringent audits, Triterras' win certainly speaks volume of our organization and business offerings, as it affirms our business standards, qualities and performance.

Why are Pakistani banks reluctant to lend to private sector, especially SMEs?

Related Articles

The transaction banking revolution has only just begun

Global Trade Finance Gap Expands to $2.5 Trillion in 2022

How blockchain-based facilities can close the $2tn global trade finance gap

The Impact of COVID-19 on Trade Finance: A Retrospective Analysis

Innovating Trade Finance for MSMEs

The Future of FinTech: The Technological Revolution in Trade Finance

The Rising Influence of Non-Bank Financial Institutions in today’s market

Impact of Changing Interest Rate Expectations in US & Europe on TF Flows

Trade finance volumes robust as growth slows

Financial market volatility complicates funding environment

The Resurgence of Letters of Credit: A Response to Tightening Liquidity & Rising Interest Rates

Trade Finance Receivables: A Growing Asset Class

Impact of regional US banks’ fallout on Trade Finance: How LC & Open Account Financing fared in the crisis

Trade finance must digitalize to combat fraud

The world’s trading system needs to ditch its paper trail

A new paradigm for global trade

Digital Supply Chain Finance is the future for global economic development & recovery

CRR hit to trade-finance banks should be avoided

Are the current Indian policies with regard to export financing sufficient to beat inflation?

Triterras wins the Singapore SME 500 Award 2023

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