Financing for SMEs would be reduced in the coming months

We are creating ties that allow them to support each other and access financial services in an agile way to strengthen their digital presence and further boost their economic impact”.

Julian Coulter, CEO of Google Mexico.

Credit applications are constantly increasing, while their access could be reduced for companies in different sectors, during the coming months, according to Jeeves, a fintech specialized in financing startups, small and medium-sized companies.

“As the number of companies that are looking for financing grows, the number of companies that are not so financially healthy, riskier, that need credit, is also increasing. So there is much more demand now in terms of applications, but of those that we can approve in a slightly smaller amount due to risk management, ”said Brian Siu, director of Jeeves for Latin America.

In this sense, the unicorn also highlighted the importance of digitalization as a vital tool for the survival of companies in the face of a possible recession, for which he announced a collaboration with the technological giant Google, to facilitate access to digital and financing tools, from the which Siu highlighted that prior to the current economic context, its access was already complicated.

“An alliance of this nature has the objective of providing more financing options to SMEs in Mexico, although fintechs have been aggressively entering the credit market, the small and medium-sized business sector is not sufficiently served by banks or fintech . The space is very large, it is a very big challenge to try to close that financing gap, ”he added.

According to information from the Bank of Mexico, access to financing for SMEs is lower compared to other segments of financing for the private sector, with 9.6% of the share, while consumer credit represented 22.8%, housing credit occupied 23.5% and credit to large companies was 44.2 percent.

Due to the expected complications of access to credit, the Jeeves director anticipated the companies that are looking for a loan to finance their operation, to prevent a scenario of a possible crisis.

“The important thing, now more than ever, if you want to be sure before the storm or before the recession is to have your company’s finances shielded, central bank rates are rising, so credit conditions are also becoming more expensive. It is essential that companies that are thinking about liquidity do so before waiting until the storm is really over, “said Siu.

On the other hand, Julián Coulter, general director of Google Mexico, pointed out in a statement that after the pandemic the digitization needs of SMEs increased, so their need to access financial services through this channel also increased.

Google seeks alliances with fintech

Clara

In addition, the technological giant made alliances with the financing technology company Clara

Digitization, key

Digitization played a key role for SMEs during the pandemic, since 48% had to open sales online, according to the Mexican Association of Online Sales.

sebastian.estrada@eleconomista.mx